The Seven-Colored Puppeteer in the Land of Fire
by Shareon
Summary: Stuck in an outside world unlike any she had heard of before, Alice Margatroid seeks to return to Gensokyo. Just because she was a bit of a loner didn't mean she was ready to abandon her life in the Land of Fantasy. Meanwhile an encounter with a blond orphan can change the fate of a boy and possibly the world.
1. 1: Unexpected Arrival

Summary: Stuck in an outside world unlike any she had heard of before, Alice Margatroid seeks to return to Gensokyo. Just because she was a bit of a loner didn't mean she was ready to abandon her life in the Land of Fantasy. Meanwhile an encounter with a blond orphan can change the fate of a boy and possibly the world.

* * *

Chapter 1: Unexpected Arrival

Alice was tempted to curse one Yukari Yakumo, not that it would have done any good. It was doubtful the gap youkai would even hear it. Even if she did it wasn't like it would accomplish anything except maybe give Yukari a smug sense of satisfaction at Alice's vexation.

It had been an ordinary trip through the Forest of Magic on a day like any other. Alice had been walking to the Hakurei Shrine. She spent most of her time in her home in the forest researching magic in the form of her puppets and it took something special to convince her to leave. In this particular case it was a party Reimu was hosting.

Alice was well dressed for the occasion. She wore a blue dress and white stole, both of which were accented by a large pink ribbon tied around her neck another pink ribbon tied around her waist as a belt. Completing the look was the red hair band on her head which had the added benefit of keeping her hair out of her eyes. The overall effect was to give Alice a doll-like appearance despite her tallish size. It made her somewhat resemble the numerous puppets she crafted. It was what Alice typically wore. The party was just an ordinary party after all, not something big like a holiday party or a party celebrating the resolution of an Incident.

The parties were part and parcel to life in Gensokyo. Life in the Land of Fantasy had the risk of becoming monotonously dull without the occasional spice of entertainment to liven things up with a bit of variety. The parties were perfect for this. The parties and the danmaku battles. The parties and the danmaku battles and the Incidents. There were actually numerous things which happened to prevent things from getting too monotonous. All things considered life in Gensokyo was usually anything but boring. However among the categories of events which accented life there the parties were the most fun. Usually.

Alice had been musing on whether or not she would give a donation at the Hakurei Shrine. It had been quite a while since she last had, and Reimu's perpetual lack of money was well known. The parties couldn't have been cheap to host either.

Almost as punishment for the heresy of actually giving money to the constantly hungry donation box, Alice tripped. One second Alice was walking along the well familiar and well worn path to the Hakurei Shrine through the Forest of Magic. The next second she was flying through the air.

It was a simple matter to catch herself. That Alice was flying through the air didn't mean she was uncontrollably flying through the air. The ability to fly was a common ability in Gensokyo. Even some humans like Reimu could do so. It meant that despite Alice's trip she was able to easily hover in place and keep herself well clear of the ground below.

Shanghai faired even better than her mistress had. She had been floating just off of Alice's left shoulder so had been entirely unaffected by Alice's jinxed feet. There hadn't even been the chance for her black dress, white apron, or red ribbon to get anywhere near the dirt road below.

The puppet floated up, dusted Alice off, helped straighten her clothes and hair, and then patted her on the head. The semi-autonomous puppet was ultimately under the control of Alice but in numerous ways Shanghai had a mind of her own as well.

Alice restored herself to more sure footing and looked around. She found that she was completely disoriented. She didn't recognize anything. She didn't have every tree memorized on the trip to the Hakurei Shrine, but she had gone there enough times to be familiar with the path. That was even ignoring the fact that not one minute prior she had been walking along it. Despite that she didn't recognize anything around her. The layout of the trees was entirely different than what she expected. For that matter the trees themselves were an entirely different species.

"Do you recognize anything?" Alice asked. There was always the chance that Shanghai had noticed something on her own between the occasional controlling commands Alice still had to give the semi-autonomous puppet. She turned to look as Shanghai shook her head back.

"Nothing to do for it. Let's find out where we are," Alice said as much to Shanghai as to herself.

Alice gathered herself and flew upward. She had to watch her head as she flew higher and into the canopy. A few seconds later she was out and into the free and open air. She kept climbing, gaining height as well as a better view of the area.

The forest was massive. It was at least as big as the Forest of Magic. It was superficially similar as well. Only superficially similar. The trees were all different, as was the terrain in general. She had flown above the Forest of Magic enough times to recognize the more distinctive hills and valleys and none of them were present. She couldn't see anything like her home, or Marisa's home, or anything else familiar.

It was at that point that Alice was tempted to curse Yukari. And it was at that point that she held her frustration and her tongue to herself.

"We must have been gapped to the outside world," Alice mused.

Shanghai shrugged back.

If it was the outside world then it was odd. Alice would have assumed that she would have appeared at the Hakurei Shrine. The Hakurei Shrine in the outside world, of course, but the shrine nonetheless. That was clearly not the case.

The most notable thing Alice saw was a large settlement off in the distance. It was a large, roughly circular city. It stood beneath a cliff face with four giant heads carved into it. That settled it. There was nothing at all like that in Gensokyo. She was definitely in the outside world. Once again Alice wanted to curse Yukari, and once again she held her tongue.

If Alice was going to find any answers it would be at that city. Before she lowered herself back to the ground she traced the numerous paths which led there. It seemed like everything in the area radiated from the settlement, including the dirt path she had previously been on. That made it easy. She could just follow the road and get to her destination.

Alice flew back down to the ground. Flying in at full speed would be enough to startle any human. It even bothered the people in the Human Village back in Gensokyo and they already knew who she was. She didn't want to start off on a bad foot with anybody here. It would make it take that much longer to learn anything. It was lucky that she had only recently become a magician and still maintained a close resemblance to being human. If somebody like Remilia Scarlet or Koakuma or one of the numerous other obviously inhuman youkai had been thrust in the same situation as Alice had been she wasn't sure how they would hide their wings. In the case of Remilia, she expected that The Scarlet Devil wouldn't have even bothered to try.

Once she was back on the ground Alice began the long walk to the settlement she had spotted in the distance and hopefully to some answers.

* * *

The city was surrounded by a massive wall with some equally massive gates. They would have posed an imposing barrier to Alice if she hadn't been able to fly. And if they weren't wide open. There was a giant "n a" written on the interior of the two massive wooden doors. It was only so much nonsense to Alice. Maybe it was "a n" written backwards, in which case it could have meant a hermitage or a sanctuary if the letter order were ignored. Unfortunately there was no gate guard to whom Alice could have asked what the writing was supposed to mean. However that also meant there was nobody to challenge her as she walked in. The puzzle distracted Alice as she entered.

The first look into the city proper showed the outside world had changed a great deal since Alice had last seen it through a gap. The roads were primarily dirt rather than the various forms of rock she had seen. There was substantially more wood than she remembered, too, both in the form of fences and buildings as well in the form of the plethora of living trees which surrounded her. For that matter the buildings themselves were much more round, much less tall, and much more colorful than she had expected.

The first order or business was natural. It would have been natural for Patchouli Knowledge. It would have been natural for Marisa Kirisame. And it was natural for Alice herself. Every magician, even humans who were only magicians by profession like Marisa, knew all the best things could be found in a library. Found as well as taken in the case of Marisa.

Alice had to visit a couple of inns, bars, and stores, but she was eventually directed to the city library. It was built into the same mountain which held the carvings of those four giant heads that Alice had seen from the air earlier. It made directions easy. Her inquiries had the added benefit of informing Alice of the city name.

Konohagakure.

Alice wasn't sure who had named the city but that person's judgment was extremely questionable. How could a settlement that large be called a village? How could it be considered hidden by the leafs when it was so visible from the air? The name was patently ridiculous. Most likely it had started as a smaller settlement and had literally outgrown its name.

There were several restricted sections in the library. If Alice had been a certain Greedy Magician then the segregation of those books and scrolls would have sorely tempted her, but that was Marisa's trademark rather than Alice's. Alice suppressed her temptations to steal far better than Marisa did. She had to. She suspected Patchouli would treat her indiscretions far more severely than the relatively short-lived Marisa, and Alice had no desire to be banned from the largest source of knowledge in Gensokyo. She suspected that what she was searching for in this library wouldn't be restricted either.

A map was easy to find, easy to read, and easy to get worried over. Alice poured over it in search of the Hakurei Shrine or anything else she had heard of in the outside world. She didn't see anything at all familiar. Alice exchanged some concerned looks with Shanghai. The puppet couldn't talk but it was easy for Alice to read her expressions and thoughts. After all, Alice was the one who had made Shanghai and who ultimately controlled her.

After several minutes of searching in vain Alice gave up and took the large map over to a nearby woman behind a counter. She pulled it up and asked, "Have you ever heard of a place called the Hakurei Shrine? I'm trying to find it on this map but I don't see it anywhere."

"Uhh..." the librarian squinted her eyes in thought and search, "... no. Which country is it in?"

"Japan," Alice answered.

"No. Like is it in the Land of Lightning or the Land of Earth?"

"Uhh... Earth?" Alice asked back. She hadn't heard the planet referred to as a country before, but she was far from an expert on the outside world.

"Sorry. We aren't allowed to give out any more detailed maps of the Land of Earth to civilians, but I don't think I've heard of anything like a Hakurei Shrine or a Japan there."

"Have you've heard of a place called Gensokyo?" Alice asked.

"No."

"I see," Alice said. One last try. "I don't suppose you know if anybody is living on the moon, do you?"

"The moon? No," the woman said. "Are you feeling alright? I can call a medic if you'd like."

"No, that's okay. Thank you. Here, you can put this back," Alice said. She handed the map back to the librarian and then left the library.

The warm glow of the sunset bathed Alice and Shanghai in an orange light. Alice breathed out an exasperated sigh. Shanghai did as well, or rather emoted a very similar pattern in sympathy.

"I don't think we're in the outside world," Alice said. The puppet shook her head back.

"You're right. We aren't in Gensokyo anymore so I guess we must be in an outside world. Maybe it's a different outside world?" The puppet nodded this time.

"That means one of two things. This could be an Incident. That would mean Reimu and Marisa and whoever else must be on the case. Maybe we'll be back in Gensokyo tomorrow and everything will be back to normal." The puppet nodded enthusiastically.

"Either that or this is something Yukari, or Remilia, or somebody else did for whatever reason. That means we're stuck here until they decide to bring us back or until I figure out a way to get back to Gensokyo on my own." Shanghai nodded again, much more hesitantly than before.

"Only one more thing to try, I guess," Alice said to Shanghai. Shanghai nodded back.

"Yukari! Did you send me here? Where is this place?" Alice shouted out. Not in anger, or frustration, or with any particular emotion. She shouted merely to be heard. It was a testament to her success that a couple of people turned to look at her.

There was no response.

"Remilia! Is this your doing? What strings of fate am I supposed to pull here?" Alice tried again. There was no point in feeling angry at The Scarlet Devil who could control fate to her whims. It would have been nice if she could have been bothered to inform Alice of her designs first, though.

Still no response.

The various people who had turned to look at Alice pointedly averted their gaze and hurried away. They probably thought she was crazy, but Alice didn't mind. What did humans know of the business of youkai?

Alice gave another sigh and turned back to Shanghai. In a more normal voice she said, "Well I don't know about you but I don't plan on just sitting around and waiting for that Hakurei Shrine Maiden to come rescue me. I might actually need to give a donation to her shrine if she does." Shanghai floated up and patted Alice on the head.

"Let's see if we can find a place to sleep for the night. Maybe something to eat, too," Alice said. As a magician, and thus a youkai, Alice technically didn't need either of those. However both were creature comforts she regularly indulged in. It was a throwback to when she had been human so recently.

Shanghai leaped up with an arm raised in excitement.

If it was an Incident then Alice had every confidence she would be back home within the week, or even back within the day if it was a small one. On the outside chance it was a particularly slow moving or large Incident it might take a couple of months but it would still be rather soon.

If it wasn't an Incident then it could take years before she could find her own way back. A long time to be sure, but with a lifespan measured in centuries Alice could afford to be patient.

Alice had had one longterm goal for as long as she'd been a puppeteer. She wanted to make a fully autonomous puppet which could think and act on its own. A new longterm goal was now added to that one. She now wanted to return to Gensokyo as well. It was home and everybody she knew was back there.

To this end there were several things Alice thought she would need to do. She figured she would need to:

1) Find somewhere to stay. It would need to be a place where she could conduct her research in privacy and comfort.

2) Secure the materials she needed for her research. And a source of food. And tea. Especially tea. Tea was good.

3) Locate Gensokyo.

4) Find a means to return to Gensokyo.

5) Take the means to return to Gensokyo.

Alice only had the couple of dozen puppets she had brought with her when she set out in the morning. It was enough to handle any number of casual youkai who might try to prey on her, and it was enough for a couple of danmaku battles if it came to that. However it was not nearly enough for any serious research.

It was a good thing that Konoha had so many trees. The plentiful wood around the city was an excellent raw resource for her. It would ensure that she had enough to build a house, to create as many puppets as she needed to, and to do any number of other things. That would take care of step 1 and help with step 2. She could work on steps 3-5 once she had the basics covered.

Alice had a longterm destination but no short term one. Every road was the same without a destination, so after she left the library Alice picked a random direction and started walking. In short order she found an empty field. There were a lot of them in the city.

"What do you think about here?" Alice asked Shanghai. The puppet nodded her approval back.

"Okay, let's go."

Alice pulled out about half of her puppets. She wanted to keep some in reserve in case she needed them for an unexpected emergency. She moved her puppets to surround the tree of her choice. It's said that many hands make light work, and the same applied even if they were puppet hands. With the expert choreography of a master puppeteer it was easy to fell the tree and transform it into a collection of more uniform planks. She repeated the process a couple of times until she had enough for her immediate purposes. The next steps was to start the foundation of her house, followed by the walls, doors, windows, and ceiling. Coordinating all of the puppets' movements was difficult, but it was nothing compared to tracking the hundreds, sometimes thousands, of bullets in a serious danmaku battle. The hardest part was trying to stay focused and interested in the building process. A couple of times a puppet almost had her hand crushed by a misplaced plank.

It took several hours of semi-serious concentration but the form of a house appeared in that vacant lot. It was magic, albeit magic of a different fashion.

It wasn't just any house; it was Alice's house. Not coincidentally it was built almost exactly the same as the one she live in in Gensokyo. It was still being built, and it lacked all of the amenities and possessions she had spent years collecting, but it was home.

Alice changed her focus once the outer shell had been completed to a point that Alice was sure it wasn't going to fall over in a strong breeze and once the inside had had the basic room shells set up. She focused her efforts and created a wooden bed. It was hard and she'd need to find a more comfortable mattress later, but it was better than sleeping on the floor.

"You're in charge here, Shanghai. You know what to do."

The puppet saluted back and Alice took her leave to climb on to her newly created bed. 15 minutes later she was asleep. The majority of the puppets were left in Shanghai's care with only a couple set up to patrol the area as a makeshift guard.

The next morning Shanghai took pride in taking her mistress on a mini-tour of the house. It was nearing completion. There were spots which needed more polish or reinforcement, but overall it was very livable. One point of fact did catch Alice's attention on the outside. Shanghai flew up to show off a feature Alice hadn't expected gracing the front of her house.

"What's with the sign?" Alice asked. She thought about it a bit more, "I guess it will make things easier if I start selling puppets. Good work."

"Good work, everybody," Alice addressed the assembled puppets all around her. She manipulated them all to give a cheer in response before resuming the finishing touches of the house and its added store component.

Alice pulled out Hourai. She was another one of Alice's more prominent semi-autonomous puppets. She was arguably stronger than Shanghai was but she tended to be less active. "Hourai, finish up what you can here. I'm going to go shopping with Shanghai."

The puppet in a scarlet dress nodded back to Alice in acknowledgment.

Alice left the puppets under the direction of Hourai and took Shanghai with her into the city on a shopping and exploration journey. There were several things she needed. The biggest priorities were getting something a bit softer to sleep on and getting some paint or something else to decorate her home. Konoha was a very colorful city and she doubted her store would get much attention as a pure wood building. Hopefully her money would work. If not she could resort to bartering. Trading favors wasn't unheard of in Gensokyo. If neither of those worked then she would just need figure out something more sophisticated.

Unlike in the Human Village, Alice didn't already know where everything was in the city. She had to resort to asking strangers where to find anything. Being surrounded by so many people was rather unusual. She was more used to living on her own with only her puppets for company. She started reconsidering her choice of location. Maybe she should have built her home out in the forest, like how she lived back in Gensokyo. Maybe after she had established a more reliably supply of food, tea, cloth, notebooks, knives, pens, and other necessities for her work she'd be able to move. For now, though, being in a more trafficked area was more of a benefit than a drawback.

Alice was able to locate a paint store fairly quickly, but much faster she found out that her money was no good there. They didn't recognize any of it. The store owner hadn't been very interested in trade either. It took locating two more paint stores plus the greater part of the morning before she was able to find a seller who was willing to barter with her. One last-minute birthday present for a niece later and Alice was the proud owner of several buckets of paint. It reduced her stock of puppets by a bit, but once Alice had become established she would be able to replace her and more.

Her attempts at acquiring a mattress were much less successful. After trying four locations Alice gave up. She would need to sleep on hard wood for a bit until she had had a chance to establish herself.

Despite her failures in locating several essential supplies the afternoon wasn't a total loss. Some price checks gave Alice a rough idea of the costs of things in this outside world and better established how much she would be able to charge for her craftsmanship.

Alice returned home to see a couple of people standing outside of her newly constructed house. They were looking at it in confusion.

"Is something wrong?" Alice asked the nearest one. It'd be good to meet some neighbors if she was going to be here for any period of time

He pointed at her house and asked, "Was that house always there?"

"No. I built it last night," Alice said.

"So that's what that racket was," another man said. "Can't you be more considerate for us?"

"Sorry," Alice said.

"Last night? In one day?" the first man asked.

"Ninja, don't ask," the second man said.

It made Alice wonder what he was talking about. She asked, "Ninja?" The first man asked the same question at the same time.

"Yeah. Who else would be able to make a house in a single day? And how else do you explain... that..." The second man pointed to Shanghai. The puppet was floating just off of Alice's shoulder.

The first man wasn't ready to give up. He asked, "If she's a ninja then where's her forehead protector?"

"She's undercover. Obviously," the second man said. "Ninja, don't ask."

"I see, I see. Nice to meet you. I'm Hiromoto Kurumada. Apparently I'm your new neighbor," the first man said.

"I'm Yasushi Kobayashi. I live just over there," the other man said, pointing to a nearby house.

"Uhh... nice to meet you. I'm Alice Margatroid," Alice answered back. She still wasn't sure exactly what was going on. At least her two neighbors seemed friendly enough.

Alice bid them farewell and went back over to the front of her house. Most of the minor details she had noticed in the morning had been fixed by Hourai and the other puppets while had been out. There was only one last thing to do. Alice pulled out a spell card, took some paint, and, "Puppeteer Sign 'Maiden's Bunraku.'"

The patterns of lights and magic were magnificent enough in their own right. That was the point of danmaku after all. The paint added even more color to the symphony flying through the air. It would have impossible for even Reimu to dodge through it all, which was why it would never have been allowed in a danmaku battle. But that wasn't the point and it didn't matter. Rather once the show had ended the sign above her entrance now proclaimed in seven bright, cheerful, inviting colors.

"Seven-Colored Puppets"

* * *

Last Updated: July 1, 2014


	2. 2: Patterns of Danmaku

Chapter 2: Patterns of Danmaku

The more time went by the more Alice was inclined to think that this was not an Incident. It had been several months since she had arrived in this outside world and Alice couldn't remember the last Incident which had taken that long to resolve. It meant that this was something else. That was annoying but not too terrible. It only meant that it would take longer for her to get back home, and time was something Alice had plenty of. There was even the advantage in this outside world that Marisa wouldn't steal any of Alice's precious things here. She was more or less left alone to conduct her research in peace.

Business at The Seven-Colored Puppets was hardly what anybody could consider brisk. Alice would have maybe a couple of sporadic visitors each week. It was enough to make to make a start on step 2 and step 3 of her plan to return to Gensokyo. She had enough paper, cloth, string, food, and tea for the immediate future, but only just. It was a mixed curse. She would have preferred to have a larger and more steady stockpile of supplies, but it also meant that she only had infrequent interruptions. The visitors to her store were few enough that Alice rarely got interrupted with whatever she was doing.

Alice's plan for step 3 was making good progress. She was getting close to being able to trace where her puppets were. Rather she was getting close to figuring out the theory for how she would be able to trace where her puppets were. Closer at any rate. If nothing else she definitely felt like she was on a viable path to returning home.

The path she was on was the most obvious one to Alice. The thing she knew best were puppets. If she was going to get back to Gensokyo then it would be by using them. So in order to tackle step 3 in her plan she intended to use her puppets. It was one of the few avenues of pursuit she had follow without access to the Scarlet Devil Mansion library and without having any other magicians to consult with. One thing she knew for certain was that she had had a large collection of puppets back home in Gensokyo. If she could somehow locate them then she'd have step 3 complete and would be ready to move on to step 4. Eventually. If she could somehow locate them.

Alice's intense concentration on the puppet she was crafting in front of her was interrupted when Shanghai tugged at her arm. It broke her out of her reverie. Something must have happened. She looked down at the puppet and asked, "What is it?"

Shanghai couldn't actually say what it was but she kept pulling at Alice's arm.

"Okay, okay."

Alice put her things down and rose to her feet. Whatever it was, it was clearly important. And urgent, given Shanghai's insistence. Maybe it was a robber or something?

Shanghai flew forward rather quickly, and Alice hurried after her. But they didn't stop in the store portion of her house. Nobody was even in the store portion. Shanghai continued out the door with Alice right behind her. She took a sharp right around the side of the building, and then Alice saw the cause of Shanghai's interruption.

A young boy was there. He was maybe around eight years old or so, and he wore a bright orange jumpsuit. He had messy blond hair, bright blue eyes, and had what looked like whiskers adorning his cheeks. More distressingly he had bucket of paint as brightly orange as his jumpsuit in one hand, a paintbrush in his other, and he was quickly painting something on the side of her house. Quickly being the operative word. At the speed he was going he must have only been there for a minute and already his crude drawing sprawled across much of her wall. Alice walked up behind him.

"What are you doing?"

"Ahh!" the boy shouted. He leaped away to a nearby rooftop in an instant. The orange blur of his jumpsuit was hard to make out with the speed he traveled. Alice took one look but didn't bother chasing. By the time she thought of it she had already lost sight of where he had gone. Besides there wasn't any permanent harm done.

The first thing to do was to remove the graffiti before the paint had had a chance to set. It was unlikely but she might be able to get rid of the wet paint without any damage to her wall. More likely she would need a new coat of paint, but she wouldn't know for sure until she had tried.

Alice manipulated several puppets inside the house to get a couple of buckets of water and scrubs and to come outside. The distance was short enough and she knew her house well enough that it was a simple matter to control them. Moments later they showed up. They then got to work cleaning the still-wet graffiti off of the wall. She had to be careful to prevent them from splashing themselves with paint. Cleaning paint stains off a puppet was always a pain.

"Whoa."

Alice turned to the noise. There was nothing there at first glance. Upon reexamination Alice could see a mismatch of something in the fence beside her. She wouldn't have even noticed it without the noise. She left her puppets to their work and walked closer.

She peered intensely. The fence looked a bit strange. In fact it wasn't a fence at all. It was more like cloth. Alice reached out, and then fell backwards when part of the "fence" flipped down. The face of the boy she had seen earlier appeared.

"Uhh... hi," he said. He looked ready to bolt at a moment's notice.

"Hi," Alice said back. She regained her feet with as much dignity as she could manage. Her curiosity was satisfied. Alice turned back to observe her puppets diligently cleaning the graffiti. Her hopes had been in vain. A large discoloration was still visible where the orange had previously been. It looked like she would need a new coat on the affected wall after all.

Rather than run the boy turned to follow behind her. He asked, "You're not going to chase me?"

Alice turned back to him. "I wasn't planning on it." She didn't really see the point.

"Everybody else in the village always chases after me. It's great. When I get lucky I can even get some ninja to chase me. It's too easy to escape from the civilians. Believe it," the boy said.

"You like them chasing you?" Alice asked. She didn't understand at all. The longer she spent in this outside world the stranger she thought its people were.

"Sure. It's better than them always ignoring me," the boy said.

"I see," Alice said. It made sense in a fashion. She had never had an issue with being left alone. How could she get lonely when she had Shanghai, and Hourai, and all of her other puppets? But people like Reimu and Marisa did seem to get lonely. She didn't really understand, even if she could sympathize.

Shanghai waved in front of Alice, catching her attention. The puppet then pointed in the direction of the wall. The last of the orange paint had been removed, and all the other less autonomous puppets were floating around aimlessly. Alice nodded to Shanghai and dedicated more of her attention back to the squad of puppets just floating around. She had them to get some paint and start repainting the affected area.

"How do you do that? Some kind of super cool jutsu?" the boy asked.

Jutsu? A skill? Alice said, "I guess you could call it that."

"Can you teach me?" the boy asked.

"I doubt it," Alice said. It would take weeks, maybe months, to learn to manipulate a puppet well with physical strings, and that was the easy part. After that it would take years to learn enough magic to do what she did.

"Why not? I'm gonna be the a ninja too," the boy said.

"I'm not a ninja. I'm a magician," Alice said. She had had to answer the same assertion more times than she could count in the past few months. Ever since her first day in Konoha, from time to time somebody would say she was a ninja. Alice didn't understand why. The confusion made no sense. Ninja were more known for staying out of sight with black clothing and clever disguises, not for beautiful spell card patterns or masterful puppetry.

"A magician. That's cool," the boy said. "I'm going to be a ninja. I'm going to be the best ninja. Watch me. I'll become the Hokage and then everybody will acknowledge me. Believe it."

Hokage. The leader of Konoha. Alice couldn't think of a worse position to be in. All that pressure and having to deal with all those people all the time. She asked, "You want all that attention?"

"Yeah. It's better than being left alone all the time," the boy said. It was proof positive that he was far different than Alice was.

Now that he wasn't defiling her house, the boy didn't seem that bad. Alice felt more than a bit sorry for this boy she didn't even know the name of. His clothes weren't the best kept and he looked a bit malnourished. She thought about it and came to a conclusion. She selected one of the puppets who had been helping clean the wall and beckoned her to come closer. At Alice's summons, the puppet floated over to her. It was only for show. She was actually controlling it directly. However showmanship in puppetry was important, no matter if it was for a large planned production for the Human Village during a festival or if it was for an impromptu show for a single boy.

"This is... what was your name again?" Alice asked the boy.

"Naruto Uzumaki. Believe it," the boy answered with bravado.

"This is Naruto. You'll be his friend from here on out, okay?" Alice asked. She controlled the puppet to nod to her and then bow to Naruto. She said to the boy, "I've found that you can't be lonely with company." Shanghai nodded to Alice's truism.

Alice took the puppet in her hands and handed her over to Naruto.

"Awesome. What's its name?" Naruto asked.

"She doesn't have one," Alice said. This particular puppet had never needed one before. "Why don't you give her one."

"I'll name it Sakura," Naruto said.

"That's a good name," Alice said.

And with that naming, Sakura was marked as special. It wasn't magic in the traditional sense. It was magic in the emotional sense. That puppet would be Sakura forever more.

Naruto's looked at Alice with suspicious eyes. "What's the catch? What do you want from me? I don't have any money you know."

"The catch is..." Alice started. Naruto looked at her with slitted eyes. "... you have to treat Sakura well. You can do that, right?"

Naruto relaxed a bit. "Thanks. I'll pay you back when I become Hokage. Believe it." He nodded to himself.

"That's a promise," Alice said. She had no intention of making Naruto keep it.

Naruto wandered off with a smile on his face.

Alice felt good for what she had done. Even if she never saw him again she had made one sad boy's day a bit brighter.

* * *

As it turned out, Alice saw Naruto much sooner than she had expected. Much like the day before, and much like most days, Alice was been working on her puppetry in her home. It her best path to return to Gensokyo. Moreover Alice just enjoyed doing it. She probably would have been spending the day working her puppetry even if she were in Gensokyo.

Alice heard the interruption far before she saw it. Naruto asked loudly "You're sure it's okay to come back here?" A pause. "If you're sure."

Shanghai floated into the room followed by Naruto. He said, "Hey. Someth... urk..." He stopped abruptly and pointed across the room with a shaking arm. "W..w..what's that?"

Alice followed his hand to where he was pointing. She answered, "That's Hourai."

The puppet in question was wearing an elegant red dress and bonnet for the day. The overall effect was very fetching. However Alice doubted that that was what was making Naruto act like that. More likely it was the fact that Hourai was hanging in the corner of the room from a hangman's noose made of string strung around her neck.

"Don't be rude, Hourai. Say hello to Naruto," Alice said.

Hourai reached up, loosened the noose around her neck, and freed herself. She hovered next to the string, placed both of her hands in front of her, and gave a polite bow to Naruto.

"H..hello..." Naruto said back.

Hourai straightened herself, let herself back into her noose, and resumed hanging. She really was a rather odd puppet. She was so similar to yet so different than Shanghai. Shanghai was very active and could usually be found floating around Alice and helping her with whatever. In contrast whenever Hourai was active she usually preferred to literally hang around the house.

"Don't mind her. She just likes hanging," Alice said.

"Why's that?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know. I only made her. It's not like I know everything about her," Alice said. Each of her puppets had her own personality. It's part of what made puppetry so interesting. Each one started almost identically but grew to be completely different than the others based on how she was treated and what her experiences were. Even tiny and ineffable details during the creation process resulted in small differences in each puppet.

"Weird," Naruto said. "That reminds me. Sakura's broken. I didn't do anything bad to it. Believe it."

Naruto held Sakura out to Alice. It had only been a day but Alice could tell she had been well treated. Sakura personality had started to rapidly diverge from her sister puppets too. Up until the day before she had been almost identical to dozens of other puppets, but being named and given the unique experiences of being with Naruto had caused her personality to grow dramatically. In a few days Alice was sure she'd be able to tell Sakura apart from all of her sister puppets with merely a glance.

"She looks good to me. How is she broken?" Alice asked.

"It hasn't moved or anything since yesterday. I tried asking nicely and everything," Naruto said.

Alice gave a laugh. "That's because Sakura can't move on her own. I've been the one controlling all the puppets around here. See? Watch this. I'm going to move her arm." She caused Sakura to reach up and pat Naruto on the arm.

"So it can't move on its own?" Naruto asked. "If I wanted to do that, how can I?"

Alice had had that question asked of her from time to time. She even had a puppet set up for exactly that purpose. She walked over and picked up a control bar where it was hanging on the side of the room. It was attached to a marionette below by strings. She answered, "This is the best way to start."

It was an easy matter to have the marionette walk over to Naruto and give a curtsy. The techniques were well known to Alice and were a very rudimentary form of what she did with magic. It was the best way to start learning the fundamentals of remote puppet control. Thus far she had demonstrated the much more mundane form of control of the marionette a handful of times in Konoha. Once she had done so nobody in the city had wanted to pursue puppetry any further.

"That looks boring," Naruto said. He was another non-interested person it seemed. "Isn't there a more exciting thing I can do to move it around, like you do?"

"That's how I started," Alice said. "And even if you can't move her around like me it doesn't stop Sakura from being your friend, does it?"

"I guess not," Naruto said. "But I wanted somebody to play with."

"You can play with Sakura," Alice said. She didn't see the problem.

"I mean play with somebody who can play back," Naruto said.

"I see," Alice said. "How about I teach you a game we play back where I come from?"

"What's it called?" Naruto asked.

"It's called danmaku," Alice said. She started to get a bit excited. She tended to not start danmaku battles herself, but Alice did rather enjoy them.

"Bullet curtain?" Naruto asked. He suddenly looked scared.

"Yes. Don't worry. It's not dangerous or anything," Alice said. It had once been much more serious and much more deadly than just a colorful game played between girls. That was before the formal rules of danmaku had been established and enforced by one Reimu Hakurei. Danmaku had since evolved to the point where even a 9-ball like Cirno could take a Master Spark to her face and have her only injury be her pride.

Alice looked around her room. It was a bit smaller than ideal but it could work. She got some of her puppets to move the furniture out of the way. Once the arena was prepared she said, "Here are the rules of danmaku. There's more to it than this but let's start with the basics. The first rule is that you can't leave the fighting arena. For now, let's just say it's this room."

"Got it," Naruto said.

"The second rule is don't get hit. The person who gets hit loses," Alice said.

"Gets hit with what?" Naruto asked.

Alice didn't say. She simply created a bright sphere of magic and launched the bullet at Naruto. It was the most basic attack in danmaku. The bullet took a second or two to cross the room and hit him. It plinked into him with a light impact. It was just enough to be decisively felt but nothing near enough to hurt. The point was only to indicate the hit, not to injure the opponent.

"Like that," Alice said. It was as good a way to start as any. Everybody had to start somewhere.

"What! No fair. I wasn't ready," Naruto said.

"Okay, then let's try it again. Are you ready?" Alice asked.

"Bring it on," Naruto said.

Alice created another bullet and launched it at Naruto. He jumped out of the way. "Easy." Only to be hit with a second sphere which came directly at him. "Hey."

"I never said there'd be just one," Alice said.

"Then do it again. I'll take everything you got. Believe it," Naruto said.

Alice had to admire his enthusiasm. If his tenacity was half as much as his enthusiasm then Alice could see him becoming quite decent at danmaku in the coming weeks and months. If he kept it up for years he might actually become good.

She once again sent a few bullets his way. Naruto didn't complacently stop after the first dodge and managed to avoid about a dozen shots before he accidentally cornered himself and got hit by one.

"This isn't fair. I can't attack you back. Of course I'll lose eventually," Naruto said.

It was a valid complaint. If one of the opponents in danmaku couldn't attack back she were destined to lose. That was unless she was a real expert and could keep dodging until her opponent just gave up. Naruto was nowhere near that level.

"How about this. Shanghai and Hourai will partner with you. They'll be trying to hit me while I try to hit you. I'll also give you 3 lives. That means I have to hit you 3 times before you lose," Alice suggested. The handicap she gave Naruto would be a good way for her to judge his skill. She wanted to beat him, but only barely beat him. Defeating an opponent with overwhelming power was boring, not to mention demoralizing to a new player. It would be a good exercise for her to measure her skill and judgment as well as to discover Naruto's ability.

Shanghai floated over to fly next to Naruto's head. Hourai released herself from her noose and floated to the other side of Naruto. Even with the two puppets supporting Naruto it still wasn't a fair fight. Alice hadn't actually tried but she was reasonably certain that she could go for hours without being hit by both Hourai and Shanghai. Even if she faced the combined might of all of her puppets she expected it would take quite some time to get hit. She had been the one who created the attacks and the spell cards they used, after all. But it would still be a good thing for Naruto to experience and see some of the more advanced forms of danmaku.

"To make it easy for you to see, all of my shots will be lavender," Alice said. She created an appropriate bullet to demonstrate. "It'll be good practice for you to try to avoid everything that Shanghai and Hourai will be doing to try to hit me, but their shots won't affect you. There isn't any friendly fire in danmaku. Just concentrate on the lavender bullets."

"Okay?" Naruto asked. It was obvious he didn't understand. How could he appreciate the beauty and the chaos of a danmaku battle having only seen a couple of individual shots fired one at a time? He would quickly learn.

"Ready?" Alice asked.

"Ready," Naruto said. He was poised to jump.

That was all the cue that Alice and the puppets needed. Shanghai and Hourai immediately launched into their attacks. Alice withheld her own assault for a bit at the start.

Despite claiming to be ready Naruto was bedazzled by the large bright circle bullets and smaller pointed bullets Shanghai was sending out everywhere with seemingly no gaps. They combined to create something of a floral pattern. Hourai's additional attacks were pattered in a more functional and more dense sphere. They added to the chaos and distraction. Alice weaved around them all with the confidence of an expert in danmaku. She barely moved enough that the bullets would only graze against her clothing but not directly hit. The precise movement was what separated an elegant master of the game versus a skilled amateur.

After several seconds Alice decided she had waited long enough and causally launched her first lavender bullet at Naruto. He was so distracted that he almost got hit. He dodged out of the way just in time. It seemed Alice's first hit wouldn't be so easy.

Alice split her attention. She focused most of it on the waves upon waves of bullets surrounding her. The remainder was focused on Hourai, Shanghai, and Naruto in that order. It was very similar to how she split her attention whenever she controlled her puppets. She launched another lavender bullet at Naruto. After he successfully dodged it she sent several more.

The boy was doing very well for somebody brand new to danmaku. Despite the visual distraction caused by all of the bullets flying through the air he managed to avoid all of the shots Alice fired. She did notice he was making a very beginner mistake. He was staying on "his" half of the room, and staying near to the back wall at that. It was a natural idea as it'd give him the most time to react to incoming shots, but it likewise limited his movements and made him far too predictable. She decided to demonstrate the problem to see if he would figure it out. There was no reason to make things too easy for him.

Alice started drifting across the room. She edged her way closer and closer whenever a gap revealed itself. She had to jump back occasionally to effectively herd the streams of bullets headed her way. Inexorably she made her way forward until she was in the half of the room Naruto had started in. By this point he only had less than half the amount of time to dodge that he had previously had. Alice's speed of firing had steadily increased as well. The combination of factors made the outcome inevitable.

"That's one," Alice announced as Naruto got stuck in a corner and got hit.

As etiquette demanded Alice, Hourai, and Shanghai all stopped attacking for a moment to allow the room to clear and everybody to get their bearings.

"That's not fair. You're on my half of the room," Naruto challenged in the lull.

"Who said it was your half?" Alice asked.

Naruto's eyes grew wide and he scrambled away as Hourai and Shanghai restarted their assault.

Taking his eyes off of the arena. That was an egregious sin. Alice could have had a second point right there and then but she held off. He was still a beginner and had just suffered his first hit. No reason to compound it immediately with another one. She could teach that lesson another day. She let him regain his footing now far away from her again before she resumed her barrage.

Unlike the first time, every time Alice approached Naruto he would maneuver himself to stay away. Seeing how he was only trying to survive and was relying on Hourai and Shanghai to counterattack it was actually a fairly effective strategy. If they ever got to the point of fighting a danmaku battle for real it wouldn't work, but for now it was good.

Naruto was making another beginner mistake as well. He was dodging at random. In theory this would be a good way to avoid being hit, but against bullets which were specifically trained on where you were rather than where you were going such as the ones Alice was currently shooting it was a mistake. It resulted in bullets flying everywhere and subsequently having no safe haven to retreat to.

The second hit came shortly after with Naruto being hit with a random shot he had previously gotten out of the way of but accidentally dodged back in front of. Alice announced, "That's two."

Once again everybody stopped firing and let the area clear for a few moments.

Naruto did relatively well for his third life. He lasted a surprising amount of time considering he hadn't figured out the concept of streaming and jerking. As it was it was only a matter of time.

"That's three. Good job," Alice announced. It was the end of the game. Naruto had performed remarkably well. Once he figured out some of the more common strategies of danmaku Naruto would be a very solid beginner. She was sure he'd do better next time, if there was a next time.

Naruto looked back with a look of fierce determination. He appeared far less tired after the exercise than Alice would have guessed. She expected to see sweat pouring off his face and to see him panting for breath. He barely looked winded despite the fact that he had sprinted probably 10 times further than Alice had moved with her leisurely dodging. At that moment she knew he had it in him to be good at danmaku if he could figure out an effective attack and decided to dedicate the time to it.

"Now it's time for the most important part of danmaku," Alice said.

"What's that?" Naruto asked. He looked especially interested in Alice's important announcement.

"We have tea," Alice said. Several puppets were already bringing in a teapot, teacups, and snacks while some other puppets were restoring the furniture in the room to make a place to sit.

"What?" Naruto exclaimed.

"This is a tradition in Gensokyo. It's to show that there are no hard feelings and everybody is still friends after a fight," Alice said. In a place as confined as Gensokyo and with people as strong as Flandre Scarlet and Yukari Yakumo it was important that good will between everybody was maintained before a problem could fester and become an Incident.

"What?" Naruto asked again. He still took his seat at the table with Alice, Shanghai, and Hourai. The two puppets couldn't eat or drink, but that didn't stop them from joining in the after-battle party. "I don't get it but if you're giving me free food I won't say no. Believe it."

Naruto only sipped at his tea but ate the cake and pastries being served with the fervor of a starving child.

"What did you think of your first danmaku battle?" Alice asked.

"I think..." Naruto said, but interrupted himself with an unashamed burp. "I think I like it a lot." He plowed into another slice of cake. "Next time we can go for ramen afterward."

"As long as they have tea," Alice agreed. It wouldn't do at all to break tradition.

"I'll check Ramen Ichiraku next time I'm there. They have to have tea. They're the best," Naruto said.

* * *

Last Updated: May 21, 2014


	3. 3: Patterns of Life

Chapter 3: Patterns of Life

Business at The Seven-Colored Puppets had picked up a bit. Whereas at first Alice had had the mixed curse of not having very many customers, she now had the mixed blessing of having steady traffic in her store. It had gotten to the point where she barely had a few hours in the day to spend on her crafting, let alone to spend on her research. It had forced her to rethink the approach she was taking to her side business. Having the income needed to support her research and creature comforts did no good if she wasn't able to actually perform that research and enjoy the food and tea she could afford.

Alice addressed the problem the same way she addressed all of the problems she faced; she used her puppets. It was only natural. She was a master puppeteer and puppets were her expertise. In this particular case she had set up a variety of signs around the store for her puppets to use to interact with the visiting customers. Rather the system was set up such that Alice could interact with the customers using her puppets without leaving the comfort of the residential portion of her house a couple of rooms over. After all, none of the puppets for sale were as sophisticated as Shanghai or Hourai.

When things went well, The Seven-Colored Puppets almost ran itself. The transactions were simple and predictable enough that Alice barely had to pay any attention to them. The puppets would practically sell themselves to the customers who visited the store. The explanation of prices and the exchange of money was easy enough, and at the end of the sale the puppet in question would literally give herself over to her new owner.

The new system freed Alice to focus the majority of her time and attention on her research and crafting. It freed the majority of her time, but not all of her time. When things went too weird Alice still had to intervene in person, and she had to deal with several interruptions on a regular basis. A couple of times on any given day she would be summoned to handle something in the store. It might be an unruly customer or a particularly complicated sale. Sometimes people would ask some question for which there wasn't a sign available to answer, and sometimes people just refused to interact with the puppets and demanded that Alice transact with them in person. Regardless of the reason, on most days Alice would be interrupted at some point during her research, and frequently multiple times at that.

It was no wonder that Alice was not making as much progress on step 3 of her plan to return to Gensokyo as could have been hoped for. She was still making progress, but it was only in measured steps. She might have given up hope of being rescued at the successful resolution of an Incident, but she was also in no particular hurry to return anyway. It wasn't like a couple of years would really signify anything to her or to the various youkai she knew in Gensokyo. It meant more for the humans like Reimu and Marisa, but they were in the minority of people she knew.

On the more positive side, Alice's steady income had enabled her to set up a nice stock of everything she used on a regular basis and count step 2 of her longterm plan as complete. She even had a little extra on the side to splurge on nice things when she wanted to. In general those purchases were unplanned. They could be something she passed by in town, or they could be something inspired by a chance comment from some customers like some middle-aged women trying to find a "fancy" puppet as a present. Two of them were in The Seven-Colored Puppets debating whether or not to make a purchase. One was holding a puppet with a flashy orange dress. Naruto had particularly approved of that series of puppets.

One of the women asked Alice, "This is the fanciest one you have?"

"It is," Alice said.

"Can you make a fancier one?" the other middle-aged woman asked.

"No," Alice said. She could, of course. She was a master puppeteer. But she wouldn't. She wasn't about to spend her time making custom orders for customers when she could instead be researching things. Running The Seven-Colored Puppets was only meant to be a minor thing on the side to support her other activities.

On the other hand, the women's request did inspire something within her. She might create a puppet like the ones they had described. It wouldn't be for sale. It would just be to see what she could do.

"I have an idea. How about this? What if we buy some flowers and put her on it like a bed? I bet your daughter would like that," the first woman said.

"You're just looking for an excuse to go to Yamanaka Flowers again, aren't you?" the second woman asked.

"It's a good store. They have a lot of nice looking flowers there," the first woman said.

"Yeah. The flowers. I'm sure," the second woman said. "No wonder you don't have a husband yet."

Alice listened to the interchange without paying too much attention. She knew better than to get in the middle of a discussion between customers. She was instead starting to picture the new puppet in her head. She would want something special. Something flashy. Maybe literally.

"Whatever. Time's ticking. What do you want to do? She's your daughter," the first woman said.

"Let's do it. I've been looking to get some tomato seeds anyway," the second woman said.

It was only at the mentioning of tomatoes that Alice took notice and returned her attention to the two customers. Flowers were one thing, but if they also sold tomato seeds then the store they were describing sounded like a more general horticultural store. That naturally led her to think of her garden and of the various plants she grew there.

"That store you mentioned. Yamanaka Flowers. Do they sell tea there?" Alice asked the two women.

"What?" the first woman asked.

"Tea. Do they sell tea plants there? Like the drink?" Alice asked. She moved her hands in a motion as if drinking a cup.

"They've got to. They sell everything there," the first woman said.

"Where are they?" Alice asked.

"They're over that way," the second woman pointed. "At the end of the street take a left. Take the third street on the right and keep going."

"Thanks," Alice said.

Alice completed the sale after that without incident.

After the two women had left, Alice turned to Shanghai and told her, "I'm going to go out for a bit and check out that Yamanaka Flowers place. Can you handle things here while I'm out?"

Shanghai nodded her assent.

"Okay. I'll be back in a bit."

Alice left The Seven-Colored Puppets in Shanghai's capable hands and took her leave. She was always on the lookout for new varieties of tea. Her garden was already flourishing with fruits and vegetables, and the tea therein would be ready to be harvested in probably about a year. However there was always the chance of finding some new varieties of tea. She had already discovered a few tasty blends in this outside world which were unavailable in Gensokyo. Alice was sure there had to be more. Based on the conversation she had just heard, this Yamanaka Flowers was at least worth a visit. Her research could wait for another day while she satisfied her curiosity.

Locating the flower shop was been easy. First, the directions she had received were roughly accurate and enough to get her started. That was the important part. Nobody near her home would deign to talk to Alice. Even Hiromoto and Yasushi, who had seemed so friendly the first few weeks she had moved in, had stopped even acknowledging she existed. The solitude suited Alice just fine as it let her concentrate more on her research. But it was odd. The effect was centered on The Seven-Colored Puppets and trailed off the further away she got from her house until it eventually disappeared.

The second thing which made locating Yamanaka Flowers easy was the store was quite popular. Once she got outside of the approximately five-block radius around The Seven-Colored Puppets, every time she asked a passerby for directions she was given precise directions as to where it was. It must have been as good a store as she had been led to believe if it was so well known.

In short order Alice found herself at her destination. A pink and red sign brightly proclaimed Yamanaka Flowers. It hung on the front of a square building which was painted an equally bright yellow. The paint had faded and had chipped in places, but if anything it made the store feel even more inviting. The homely wear and tear gave the building a warm and welcoming feeling.

Alice walked between the row of flowering bushes and bonsai trees lining the front of the store and walked in.

Yamanaka Flowers was perfect for Konoha. Much like the supposed village which was supposedly hidden by the leaves, the name of the store stood in stark contrast with the nature of the place it described. It wasn't built in a mountain, and it sold far more than just flowers. Like the city itself, chances were that it had started as some small place and subsequent moves and expansions had resulted in it outgrowing its name.

As Alice expected, rows of potted plants, bouquets, books, seeds, spades, and everything else that was needed for horticulture was organized and displayed for easy access. There was one thing which caught her by surprise, though. She hadn't been expecting the man who was minding the shop.

The man was just as odd as the store name was. He had spiky blond hair with a long ponytail in back, and the green flak jacket and red top he wore did nothing to hide his athletic physique. He was a very masculine man for such a demur store. Alice wondered how he had gotten into his chosen profession.

Alice noticed with some concern that he also wore one of those metal forehead protectors Alice saw from time to time. She hoped it didn't signify any trouble. Whenever a customer came in wearing such an accessory she knew the encounter would be a strange and a difficult one, and she hoped that that trend didn't carry over to when they were the seller too.

"Welcome," the man greeted.

"Hello. Do you sell any tea?" Alice asked. So far so good. Everything seemed normal enough.

"Tea?" he asked.

"Yes. Tea, like for the drink," Alice said. She moved her hands in a drinking motion again.

"Tea?" he asked again. "You're better off going to a locale grocery store or something for that."

"No, not dry tea leaves," Alice said. "I meant tea plants. I'm growing some in my garden. I have a couple of varieties, but I'm looking to see if you have any others."

"That's a pretty unusual request. I don't think I have any," he said. "I might be able to find some if you're interested."

"Thanks," Alice said. She kept waiting for him to say or ask something unusual.

"You said you were interested in a variety of tea plants, right?"

"Yes, please."

He pulled out a sheet of paper. "And where can I find you if I find anything?"

"You can find me at The Seven-Colored Puppets. It's about 15 blocks that way. It's a puppet store. My name is Alice Margatroid," Alice said.

"Nice to meet you, Alice. I'm Inoichi Yamanaka, owner of Yamanaka Flowers," he introduced himself. "By the way, it was tea you were interested in, right? Maybe we do have something for you. Would you be interested in maybe some jasmine or some chrysanthemum? For your tea, and as a decoration around the house."

For blending with tea. Alice hadn't really thought of growing her own additives before. It was a good idea.

Alice left the store with a couple of seeds and cuttings and a promise from Inoichi to let her know if he was able to find anything. Overall the encounter had been rather pleasant, to her slight surprise.

She returned to her home only to see a customer there waiting. Shanghai was tapping the sign which read, "Alice isn't here right now. She should be back soon."

"Hello. I'm sorry, I just got back. I'm Alice Margatroid. Can I help you?" Alice asked.

"Finally. Yes. I was wondering. Do you sell any human-sized puppets?" the customer asked Alice.

Alice sighed. She looked up and confirmed that the man was wearing one of those metal forehead protectors. Of course it had to be one of them, and as a buyer this time. Every time she got asked that question it was by a man, sometimes a woman, who wore one of those cumbersome accessories. They popped up every few weeks. It was getting to the point that Alice thought she should add a sign for that request. No, she would add a sign for it. She summoned a puppet to get some pens to add it while it was still top of mind.

"No, I don't," Alice said. Before the man could go on she added, "I don't sell any animal puppets either, or anything with sharp claws or anything like that."

"Can you make some? I'll pay well," the man offered.

"No," Alice said. Technically she could. She was a master puppeteer. But Alice didn't want to. Anybody who would request such a puppet was somebody she didn't want to have such a puppet. In fact, for that exact same reason, she wasn't sure she would sell him one of her regular puppets even if he asked. She didn't want any puppet she made to be involved with anything he might want of her.

"Very well," the customer said. He left.

Alice let out a breath she hadn't realize she was holding. That was one problem resolved.

She looked down at the puppet which was writing out the sign she had started earlier. "We do not sell human-sized puppet." She thought about it a bit, and then had the puppet write out another one. "We do not sell any dangerous puppets."

She hung both beneath the sign which said "Alice is not a ninja." The ink had started to fade beneath the "not" on that particular sign due to the number of times a puppet had tapped it.

Alice looked over the two new signs. She then had the puppet tilt one of them a bit to make sure it was straight. Once she was satisfied, she turned to Shanghai and asked, "Besides that, how have things been?"

Shanghai shrugged her shoulders and shook her head at Alice. Apparently it had been a slow afternoon. Alice hadn't been gone for very long but she had expected at least one sale.

"Things didn't go much better for me, either. They didn't have any tea, but the salesman said he would try to find some for me," Alice said.

Shanghai flew over and pulled out one of the stalks of jasmine Alice had bought.

"It was his idea. I can use it to flavor the tea," Alice said. She retrieved the wayward jasmine from Shanghai's hands. "I'm going to bring these to the garden. Do you want to come?"

Shanghai floated behind Alice just over her shoulder as she carried her purchases to the garden.

Once in the plot of land Alice had set up to grow her garden, Alice looked over the layout and tried to picture how it would look with fully grown plants. She decided to place the roses along the side of the garden nearest her house, and to place the jasmine and chrysanthemum in some clusters near the end of some rows of fruits and vegetables. Once that had been decided she handed off the various flowers to the puppets who maintained her garden. Alice paid particular attention to which puppet was handling which flower. She would need to ensure they were properly handled such that the cuttings and seeds were planted and treated correctly for the respective flowers.

Her garden was settled for now and Alice considered the afternoon well spent. She returned to her house feeling relaxed after her expedition. Finding some tea would have been ideal, but the different additives and flavorings were a good find too. She could imagine the floral flavors in her mouth already and looked forward to finding out if reality would match up to her dreams.

Alice returned back into the house. It was time to start on that idea the two middle-aged women had inspired in her earlier. She walked over to the piles cloth she had and looked them over. She had a vivid fuchsia, and a stark crimson, and a prominent azure. An one of them might be a good start, but none of them had quite the impact she was hoping for.

"What do you think? I'm looking for the flashiest, fanciest thing I can," Alice asked.

Shanghai looked over the large variety of clothing samples and pulled out the fuchsia Alice had been eying as well. The puppet held it up, but she also looked unconvinced.

"I guess it will do to begin with. We'll need to find something better, though."

Shanghai nodded.

Alice took the base of color in hand and selected a matching block of wood. She could already imagine in broad swathes how this puppet would look. There were countless refinements to be made and details to be determined as she proceeded, but she she had the vision. It was enough to get started. She was about to make her first cut when she was interrupted. Naruto shambled into the room.

It was very uncharacteristic of Naruto. He didn't prance in. He didn't loudly announce himself. Alice almost overlooked his entrance. He had a sullen look of defeat which appeared utterly alien on his face.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked.

"Stupid ninja exam," Naruto said.

"Ninja exam? There's an exam to become a ninja? How does that work?" Alice asked. She hadn't really thought about it before, but the idea of an examination sounded strange. She had assumed that everybody would automatically become a ninja upon finishing the academy.

"It's just this boring written test. They ask us a bunch of questions like what's the ninja code or what is the priority for survival in the wild," Naruto said. "Then they test us on our ninja skills."

"What kind of skills?" Alice asked. She had heard about ninja on and off ever since she had come to Konoha. She had even had a sign put up about it. She was curious to find out more about these ninjas was always accused of being.

"It's nothing special. Just some things like Henge no Jutsu and Kawarimi no Jutsu," Naruto said.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu? Body replacement technique? What's that?" Alice asked cautiously. It sounded more than a bit creepy.

"You switch positions with something else, like a log or something. It's real easy, like this," Naruto said. He suddenly disappeared and a chair was where he had been standing a moment ago. Alice was taken aback and had to search around the room before she saw Naruto standing beside her table. He was starting to regain some of that energetic optimism she had come to know him by.

"That's pretty handy," Alice said.

She was already thinking about danmaku and how that skill could be applied. She wasn't sure what she thought about it. Would it even be fair? On the one hand, it wasn't very different than simply running exceptionally quickly. On the other hand, the body replacement technique seemed more like Sakuya using her abilities to emulate teleportation than a more mundane form of dodging. Sakuya taking advantage of her ability to manipulate time to teleport around the area was generally considered unfair in danmaku. But it wasn't really forbidden, either. Despite that and the obvious advantages using it would bring, the only time Alice knew for certain Sakuya had teleported in a battle was in her fight against the Lunarians. Maybe it was like the Grimoire of Alice? It wasn't forbidden per se, but it just wasn't done? Maybe the Kawarimi no Jutsu would be like that?

The whole situation was confusing. It was unfortunate that nobody else from Gensokyo was around to consult, especially Reimu. The only conclusion Alice could be sure of is that she would need to think about it more.

Alice put the question to the side and asked, "What about that Henge no Jutsu? It's some kind of transformation?"

"Yeah. It's my best technique. Watch this," Naruto said.

After his last technique, Alice watched Naruto carefully and was thoroughly prepared to be impressed. Naruto raised his hands up in front of him and said, "Oiroke no Jutsu." He then vanished in a puff of smoke.

Sexy Technique? The declaration was so out of place that Alice barely even registered it. It felt wrong, but Alice couldn't make sense of it before the cloud of smoke vanished. In Naruto's place was a tall girl with two large blonde ponytails. She was extremely shapely and didn't have a stitch of clothing to mask that fact. The girl gave out a sensuous giggle. Alice wasn't sure how to react. She felt embarrassed by the look at her, and annoyed, and maybe just a bit envious.

"Stop that!" Alice shouted. She turned to avert her eyes. The way she turned resulted in her facing Hourai, who was hanging along the side of the room. Hourai had brought her hands up to cover her eyes. "That perverted thing is a ninja technique?"

"Yeah. I can even beat the old man with it," Naruto said, again referring to some mysterious person he met from time to time. Alice got mixed messages about this person. On the one hand he seemed to have some power and some importance, but on the other hand Naruto seemed to be extremely casual with him. It was another of the paradoxes of Naruto and this outside world in general.

Naruto had spoken in his regular voice. It was enough to prompt Hourai to try peeking out between her hands and for Alice to chance looking back. Naruto was back to his usual look. More than that, he was completely back to his usual look. His dejection from earlier had vanished. Alice had never known Naruto to stay upset at anything, be it a loss in danmaku or the rejection of an entire city.

Unlike the Kawarimi no Jutsu, Alice knew what she thought about that Henge to Jutsu in regard to danmaku. In a danmaku battle it would be allowed, and it would be utterly useless for anything except annoying an opponent. Possibly annoying an opponent. Typically the bullets were a higher priority to watch than the opponent so it was questionable whether an opponent would even notice the transformation.

"So what happened at the test?"Alice asked, changing the subject. The less she thought about that transformation Naruto had done the better.

"I failed it. It's so unfair. How was I supposed to know they changed it? I even practiced my Henge no Jutsu extra special. Why'd they have to also test the Bunshin no Jutsu this time? Cloning is my worst skill. The entire class made fun of me for failing, especially Sasuke and Sakura. How does that make sense? They didn't even try the test," Naruto said.

"Sakura?" Alice asked. She couldn't picture the puppet making fun of Naruto. She liked him.

"Not Sakura," Naruto said. He pointed to the doll he kept at his side all the time. "Sakura. She's the number one kunoichi in the class. She's always hitting me and calling me an idiot."

"She sounds pretty bad," Alice said. It sounded like his entire class treated Naruto rather poorly, but it no worse than the city as a whole did. From what she could tell, almost everybody just ignored Naruto, not unlike how Alice's neighbors ignored her. Those who didn't outright ignore Naruto were usually found shouting angrily at the boy. About the only people she had seen treat him decently were Teuchi, the proprietor of Ramen Ichiraku, and Ayame, his daughter and assistant. That was probably part of the reason why Naruto liked their shop so much.

"Yeah. She's not nice, like you," Naruto said.

"Thanks," Alice said. She did try to be nice. It was part personality and part survival instinct in Gensokyo. An unkind word or action could quickly escalate into an Incident with the types of youkai who lived in the Land of Fantasy. "So you failed your test? Does that mean you can't be a ninja?"

Shanghai flew behind Naruto and patted him on the back. Hourai also let herself out of her noose and flew over to console him as well.

"No. It just means I need to stay in the academy another year," Naruto said. "But I'm not going to give up. I'm going to become the number one best ninja and become Hokage, no matter what they all say. Believe it."

"That's the spirit. Good luck," Alice said. She was sure if anybody could do it then Naruto could.

"Yeah. Maybe next year they'll test the things I'm good at again, like throwing," Naruto said.

"That's a ninja skill too?" Alice asked. When he said throwing she pictured something like tossing a ball back and forth with Shanghai and Hourai. It sounded positively mundane next to the fantastic and perverted skills he had just demonstrated like teleportation and transformation.

"Sure. It's real easy too," Naruto said.

"Is there something special about it?" Alice asked.

"No. It's just throwing," Naruto said. In a blink of the eye he had reached into a pouch at his side and then extended his hand outward. Three thunks later, some daggers had implanted themselves into a wall.

Alice walked over to examine the daggers now embedded in her wall. She would need to repair it later, but that wasn't what caught her attention. The blades had landed together in a semi-tight group. It was no more diffuse than some danmaku spreads. The seed of an idea hit her.

"When did you learn how to do that?" Alice asked.

"I don't know. A while ago. We learned it pretty early in the academy. Why?" Naruto asked.

"Why didn't you tell me? Don't you realize? You could use that for danmaku," Alice said. It might be the breakthrough which would allow Naruto to participate more fully in a danmaku battle.

"I can't use kunai. You might get hurt," Naruto said.

It was a sweet sentiment, but Alice had no worries of anything like that. She had lost count of the number of times she had faced Sakuya and her thousands of knives. "Don't worry. I can handle it. How many of those kunai do you have?"

Naruto opened his pouch and pulled out more three throwing daggers. They were a dark gray metal and semi-dull. They were so very different than the immaculate gleaming metal weapons wielded by the Perfect and Elegant Maid. There was no chance that Naruto could use them to form the intricate and beautiful patterns of danmaku like Sakuya did with her blades, but they would be enough to allow Naruto to participate in offense as well as defense.

Alice pulled out the daggers embedded in her wall. It took a surprising amount of force to remove them. Including the three Naruto had thrown at first and the three he still held she counted six daggers. It was two to three orders of magnitude too few for a real match. She said, "That's not very many. Do you have any others?"

"I can't help it. I don't have any money, and it's not like anybody will sell me anything anyway," Naruto said.

"Hmm... I guess it's no good then," Alice said. It was a bit of a disappointment. It had seemed like a good idea, but it was another dead end.

"Yeah, but I'll figure something out eventually. Believe it," Naruto said. "Hey, let's play another game today. I even told Teuchi to expect us."

More ramen. It was always ramen whenever Naruto chose. Alice had gone to Ramen Ichiraku enough times at Naruto's insistence that she was starting to get to know Teuchi and Ayame as well. After the seventh time she had showed up with Naruto they even started giving her discounts in the bill, supposedly for bulk purchases. The venue was as good as anything, though. The point of the tea after danmaku was to bring everybody to a good mood, after all, and nothing brought Naruto to a good mood better than ramen.

"Yes, let's. By the way, there's something I want to show you before we start," Alice said. They might not have figured out a way for Naruto to be able to directly join in the offense yet, but that wasn't to say Alice couldn't introduce something else interesting instead. Naruto had improved quite a bit and it was starting to take a significant amount of time for Alice to actually hit Naruto with only basic bullets. She thought he was ready for more.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"You've gotten pretty good at danmaku, and I think it's time to bring you to the next level," Alice said.

"Yeah. You said it. I'm the best. Believe it," Naruto said. It made for such a contrast to the disappointed look of defeat he had entered Alice's home with. Never mind that Alice beat him every time she didn't intentionally let herself get hit after a particularly good set of dodges by Naruto. Maybe if he could get those kunai to work he could actually challenge her with a bit of unpredictability in his attacks. Maybe. There was still the matter of the years of experience difference between them.

"This is a spell card. I'm going to be using it in today's battle," Alice said. She pulled out one of the sheets of paper which held a spell card and handed it to Naruto. "It's a more advanced form of danmaku. They hold special attacks which clear out all the enemy's projectiles and have special patterns. They're stored in these spell cards and are used when the person activates them."

"So they're like fuinjutsu?" Naruto asked.

Fuinjutsu? Sealing techniques? "I don't know what that is. Maybe. What do..."

"Benevolent French Dolls -Easy-?" Naruto interrupted, reading the description of the spell card Alice had handed to him. "Easy mode? How lame. What do you take me for, some kind of kid?"

"You are a kid," Alice said.

"No way, I'm the number one best ninja. Believe it. I should be doing something harder," Naruto said.

"Okay. If you insist," Alice sighed. Rather than try to argue she decided to just show him. She figured Naruto knew enough about danmaku now to at least appreciate what he would see. She pulled out a related but different spell card and said, "Blue Sign 'Benevolent French Dolls -Hard-.'"

The named blue puppets appeared and the room was suddenly filled with glowing bullets. It was far from her most powerful spell card, but it was more than enough for a beginner like Naruto. His eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped.

After the light show had dissipated, Naruto sheepishly said, "Maybe we should start on easy mode."

* * *

Last Updated: June 5, 2014


	4. 4: Breaking the Pattern

Chapter 4: Breaking the Pattern

Step 3 of Alice's longterm plan to return to Gensokyo was complete, more or less. It had taken months, or maybe years. It was hard to keep track. Given the youkai's expected lifespan, it was all more or less the same. Regardless, she had figured out a way to locate where her puppets were. When Alice cast her spell, the numerous puppets she had created and sold throughout her time in this outside world revealed themselves to her. The collections of puppets in The Seven-Colored Puppets were obvious. The scattered puppets around Konoha were plainly apparent too, as were the few which had traveled far beyond the city limits. More than all of those combined, though, she felt a concentration of them elsewhere. That concentration was located outward, but not upward, for lack of a better term. It had to be Gensokyo.

With that out of the way it was on to Step 4. She had to find some way to pierce the Great Hakurei Barrier, or whatever else it was that blocked her way to Gensokyo. There just had to be a way. She only needed to figure out what it was. She didn't know how she was going to do so yet, but she did know that however she was going to pierce the barrier would involve her puppetry. Somehow. It was a shame that Marisa wasn't around. When it came to breaking into things, the Greedy Magician couldn't be beaten.

In the meantime, life went on. Alice continued to manage The Seven-Colored Puppets to collect resources for her craft. Puppet creation was her profession, her hobby, her income, and her salvation all in one. It was convenient that it all lined up so well for her.

Her latest creation, Paris, had been a complete success. The glittering, flashy, and extravagant puppet couldn't help but be eye-catching, even when she was merely sitting on a pedestal. She wore an intricate violet and magenta and rose and indigo and cerulean and cardinal and azure confection. Interwoven in her dress were threads of metal which glittered brightly. It made her sparkle and almost glow with a light all her own as she relaxed in the sunlight. In fact she did literally glow with a light all her own the few times Alice controlled her. Alice didn't do so very often. Paris was a bit too high maintenance and took a bit too much effort to casually control. But that was all right. Paris was rather lazy, too. She preferred to just lounge around and look pretty than to do anything which might cause her to get dirty.

Alice was trying to decide what type of puppet she wanted to work on next when Naruto barged into her room. It was a rather unusual intrusion. He typically didn't enter the home portion of Alice's house without at least some warning or escort. He was covered in mud and debris, and he was tracking dirty footprints everywhere. Alice wondered what had caused this change of appearance and behavior.

"Help," Naruto hurried out.

Alice didn't react at first. She asked, "What's wrong?"

"He went in there!" a voice from outside shouted. That was enough to get Alice to her feet.

"Come out here and fight, you coward!" another voice shouted.

"What's going on?" Alice asked.

"I got into a fight with this boy. I was totally winning. Believe it. But then he goes and calls all his friends and they ganged up on me," Naruto said.

"Slow down. Why were you fighting him?" Alice asked. From what she had seen, Naruto wasn't one for fighting that much. He pranked people all the time and he postured a great deal, but Alice could count on one hand the number of actual fights he had been in throughout the time she had known him.

"You gotta help. He kidnapped Sakura," Naruto said.

Alice frowned.

"You'd better come out unless you want something else to happen to it! Oh, oops!" another shout mocked.

"That's them?" Alice asked.

"Yeah," Naruto said.

"Let's go," Alice said. People just didn't treat puppets that way. Not the puppets Alice made. Especially not the named ones. She was going to make sure they learned that lesson well and good.

Alice stood at the entrance to The Seven-Colored Puppets and faced the dozen kids there. They formed a semicircle in front of the door. Three of them were wearing those weird metal forehead protectors she saw from time to time around the city and in her shop where they invariably caused problems.

"That's him," Naruto said. He pointed at a boy in the center of the pack.

"What's the matter? Hiding behind a girl? What a coward," the boy Naruto had pointed at said. He was one of the ones with a forehead protector. Alice could immediately see Sakura held in his hand. She was not in good shape. She was covered in mud. Her hair was in disarray. Her dress was basically shredded. Her arm had been detached and it was still being held in the boy's other hand where he had wrenched it off.

As the boy spoke, Alice controlled a platoon of puppets to come out. Each one was a sister puppet to Sakura, almost identical in appearance to Sakura when she had first been made. Showmanship was important for a good puppet show, after all. They all wore the same happy and carefree smiles that they always had. They quickly and almost silently flanked the group. Almost silently. They made a small amount of noise. It was showmanship. Whispers of activity were much more effective at scaring people than absolute silence. In no time at all they had the group completely surrounded. The boy who was speaking didn't notice, but the others did.

"Uhh... Ryuuchi..." somebody next to the center boy said, nudging him with his elbow.

As one, each of the puppets drew a weapon of some sort. Some had maces. Some had lances. Some had knives. The same carefree smile on each of the puppets suddenly took on a dark and sinister tone. It was the stuff of nightmares.

"Ahhhhh!" the boys screamed as one.

The boys had only glanced at the layers of metal and wood which surrounded them before running away from the animated terrors as fast as their legs could take them. Most of them made it. Alice didn't bother trying to stop them. One in particular did not. Two of the puppets grabbed the legs of Ryuuchi and sent him tumbling to the floor. Several others grabbed him and held him fast.

The magically controlled puppets were strong for their size. That was on their own. When combined into the eight which had conspired to hold Ryuuchi to the ground, it would have been impossible for even a grown man to overcome them.

Alice walked forward slowly. Deliberately. It was showmanship. Showmanship was important. She was going to teach Ryuuchi to not mess with puppets, and he would never forget the lesson.

"Sakura?" Alice asked. She had taken control of the injured puppet and had her struggle to her feet from where she had fallen. The puppet limped forward. Her limp was clearly in the sight of Ryuuchi. The boy frantically looked everywhere and anywhere for salvation. "Sakura. What did this boy do to you?"

Ryuuchi was still struggling to get up, for all the good it did him. His eyes were focused on the suddenly living Sakura in front of him and on her sister puppets surrounding and detaining him.

Sakura used her good hand to point up at her hair. It had been ripped ragged.

Two more of Sakura's sister puppet approached Ryuuchi.

"I see. I see," Alice said. "I think your sisters want a bit of revenge. Isn't that nice? It seems only fair to return the favor."

One of Sakura's sister puppets held Ryuuchi's head firm. The aim would need be precise. She only wanted to scare the boy, not accidentally maim or kill him.

Ryuuchi could only blink his eyes and gibber incoherently as another sister puppet floated over his head. She wielded a simple chef's knife. It looked impossibly huge in her hands. It would have been comical if it hadn't been so sinister. She raised the kitchen knife and sliced it down. It cut through Ryuuchi's hair and left a near bald streak across his head.

The boy soiled himself.

"What? That's not it?" Alice asked rhetorically.

Sakura took her detached arm in her good hand and used it to point to the shoulder where it had previously been fastened.

"Oh dear, dear, dear," Alice said, shaking her head. "That looks painful."

The two puppets who had grasped Ryuuchi's arm pulled it out. They held it uncomfortably apart from his body, almost to the point of dislocation. The same knife-wielding puppet from before floated into position.

Ryuuchi looked back and forth between the injured Sakura, the uninjured knife-wielder, and Alice. He was still gibbering unintelligibly.

The knife-wielding puppet stopped right above Ryuuchi's shoulder. She placed the knife's edge against his shoulder socket, turned the knife into proper alignment, and raised it high.

Ryuuchi screamed.

The knife sliced downward.

Only to be interrupted by Sakura. She had stepped forward right in the blade's path just as the knife had started to descend. The blade stopped a hairsbreadth away from Sakura's body. It was expertly choreographed.

"Are you sure?" Alice asked. Sakura nodded. "Okay. You heard her, everybody."

All of the sister puppets let go. Ryuuchi was now free to move. He stayed frozen still on the ground.

"You're lucky Sakura is so forgiving. Next time you might not be so lucky," Alice said. When the boy still remained paralyzed with fear, Alice further prompted him. "I suggest you run."

Ryuuchi didn't need to be told twice. He scrambled to his feet and ran away, screaming louder than the combined shouting of all the boys before.

Once Ryuuchi was well out of sight, Alice put away all of the puppets. The street was now quiet. The only evidence that anything unusual may have happened just moments prior were some strands of hair left fallen on the dirt. They were slowly being blown away by a slight breeze.

Naruto was laughing non-stop. Based on the reaction of the audience, the performance hadn't been that bad. It had been a bit cheesy, but it was as good as could be expected for a spur of the moment show. It wasn't like Alice had had the months of time to prepare that she would have had for the splendid performances she gave at the Human Village festivals.

In retrospect Alice wondered if maybe she had overdone it a bit. But then she once again saw the dirty and broken Sakura below her. She picked the puppet up and walked back to Naruto.

"Let's get inside and see what I can do for Sakura," Alice said. Naruto followed right behind her.

The first stop was the bathroom. Alice drew a small bath for Sakura to clean off as much of the filth as she could. It would just get in the way of Alice's work. Naruto hovered over them like a worried parent.

Once Sakura's shredded clothing had been discarded and the mud coving her had been washed away, Alice was able to properly assess the damage. It wasn't too bad. Sakura's hair had been torn, but a simple haircut to straighten it out would address that. Her arm had been removed, but it was a clean break at the joint and it would be a simple matter to create another fastener to reattach it. Alice wouldn't even need to make a new arm, seeing how Sakura's old one had been salvaged and was undamaged.

"Can you fix her?" Naruto asked.

"I should be able to. Why don't you find a new outfit for her while I work?" Alice suggested. Sakura's old dress wasn't even fit to be used as a rag.

Naruto walked over to a wardrobe of puppet clothing while Alice moved to a worktable and pulled out a few tools.

The first thing to do was to straighten Sakura's hair. Alice took some scissors and trimmed around to cut away the asymmetries. Even when Sakura's hair was even, Alice kept cutting. She stopped only when it finally felt right. She ended with Sakura's hair in a slightly longish bob cut. The low-maintenance look suited the puppet and felt much more in tune with the active personality she had developed through all the shenanigans she had witnessed and participated in with Naruto. There was no way Sakura would ever be mistaken for any of her sister puppets now. Alice had always been able to tell the difference before, but now the difference would be obvious to all but the most unobservant.

Once Sakura's hair was settled, Alice turned her attention to the detached arm. It was short work to make an appropriate joint and reattach it. All said and done it had only taken a couple of minutes.

"Is she all better?" Naruto asked. Alice hadn't expected Naruto to have finished selecting a new outfit for Sakura, but he had already returned to her side.

"Good as new," Alice said.

The outfit Naruto had selected surprised Alice. She had expected something orange. Naruto was always wearing that attention-grabbing color. It was his favorite color. Alice had been sure that that would have tainted his judgment, no matter how much the color mismatched Sakura.

Alice was pleasantly mistaken in her speculations. Instead of a predictable and unsuited orange outfit, Naruto had selected a slightly abbreviated blue and white cheongsam which Alice felt matched the puppet's tastes perfectly.

Once Sakura was dressed, Alice flexed her control to move Sakura around a bit to make sure the reattached arm and everything else was in good shape. After she was satisfied everything was in order, Alice returned the puppet to Naruto. He looked Sakura over and then placed her in a pouch he kept strapped around his waist. She was held secure there facing forward, ready to indirectly join in with whatever escapade Naruto happened to be undertaking.

"Thanks," Naruto said. His mood had been restored just as quickly and just as completely as Sakura's state. He had no more worry and no more sullenness. He was back to his jubilant self with no evidence of his earlier problems with Ryuuchi and the others.

"You're welcome," Alice said. "Now that that's taken care of, how is everything else? How's your fuinjutsu turning out?"

"Not great. I tried asking some of the teachers I don't have in the academy, but none of them would tell me anything about it either. I tried asking the old man too, but he just said something about my family but wouldn't say anything else," Naruto said. "I don't see what the big deal is. I found a couple of scrolls in the library. It doesn't seem that hard."

They exchanged smalltalk a bit longer, but Alice had no doubt where it would lead. It was practically a script. The weather was perfect. There was no reason not to. If nothing else, Naruto always got some free snacks or cake at the end, if not the ramen he loved so much. After only minute, Naruto brought up the idea of a danmaku battle.

Shanghai flew forward at the offer, as opposed to Hourai who hadn't reacted very much at all. Alice looked over to Hourai and asked, "Do you want to come too?"

Hourai shook her head. She was content to stay home and hang from her favorite perch along the side of the room.

"Can you watch the shop while we're out?" Alice asked.

Hourai nodded her agreement back. It was quite an interesting effect, seeing how she was still hanging in her noose as she agreed.

"Okay, I'll leave things to you then," Alice said. "Let's go."

Hourai waived goodbye to them. Naruto waved back and then was out the door in a heartbeat. Shanghai and Alice followed at a somewhat more reasonable speed. Danmaku in Alice's house had always been slightly constrained, and now that Naruto was dodging spell cards fairly proficiently the room's limitation were felt more acutely than ever. They could still play indoors in the event of terrible weather or some other limitation, but moving their danmaku battles outside was much more prudent.

The three of them left The Seven-Colored Puppets and moved to a nearby secluded grove. It had several properties which made it a good arena. The trees had grown in such a way that the clearing was roughly rectangular, which made it a naturally good playing field. It was in a secluded area, which meant that it was unlikely that some random bystander would end up caught in the crossfire. And it was outside, which made cleaning up much easier as they could leave things as they ended up if they wanted to. The only real downside was that the grove was much brighter in the sunlight than Alice's house, which made it somewhat harder to see and appreciate the beautiful bullet patterns of danmaku.

They reached the natural arena and all three of them went their separate ways.

Alice walked to the center of the clearing in preparation for the match to come.

Naruto had a bit more preparation to undertake. He walked over and picked up a bag where it had been left in a nook under a tree. The bag was heavy, which stood to reason as it was filled with rocks. It was an inelegant solution to an inelegant problem.

Kunai were too expensive to literally throw away in massive quantities, so Naruto had figured out something better. In this case, better was defined as being cheaper. He had painstakingly gathered hundreds of rocks from the rivers and forests around Konoha. They weren't nearly as precise or as effective as kunai, but the sheer quantity of them had a quality all its own. Their slight unpredictability also added a bit of extra challenge when trying to avoid the projectiles.

Naruto's solution also had the interesting effect of subdividing his danmaku battles into roughly three phases. He would begin very offensively, throwing out lots of projectiles while moving relatively slowly due to the weight of the bag. As the bag lightened Naruto would gradually speed up. If the battle lasted long enough, his attack pattern would abruptly change as Naruto started moving erratically to salvage the bullets he could once the bag ran out.

It wasn't elegant. It wasn't beautiful. It was barely functional. But it was functional. Naruto's solution of throwing rocks could have been better, but it was far superior to the alternative of Naruto only being on the defense the entire game.

The only thing remaining before Naruto could participate in a danmaku battle as a full participant was finding some way for him to emulate spell cards.

Shanghai path was much more like Alice. She flew directly into the clearing. She took her place near the side of the grove and hovered in place as she patiently waited for her opponent.

Naruto's skill had definitely improved over time, but Alice had to give the edge to Shanghai. That was when Shanghai operated on her own semi-autonomously. If Alice were to take a more direct role in the fight then facing the puppet would have been as hard as facing Alice herself. But there was no reason to do that. The whole reason for Naruto to face Shanghai was to give him a legitimate chance to win in a fair fight against a roughly equally skilled opponent.

Besides, it was fun. Fun for Naruto. Fun for Shanghai. And fun for Alice to watch.

There was even the chance that Shanghai could possibly learn some new tricks and tactics. Maybe. And if that happened it could be the key to bringing Alice one small step closer to achieving her longterm goal of creating a fully autonomous puppet.

Naruto entered the clearing once he was prepared and took a position opposite of Shanghai. Alice stood in the middle between the two of them.

Once all of the players were in position, Alice signaled the start of the battle and then got out of the way.

* * *

Tea at Ramen Ichiraku was good. The ramen was good as well. It was a good conclusion after a hard-fought danmaku battle.

Shanghai couldn't join in any of the eating and drinking herself, but that didn't prevent her from animatedly joining in the festivities. She flew over the table, and her various gestures and pantomimes made it clear she was having just as much fun as Alice and Naruto were having.

Sakura sat still on the table, much less animated than Shanghai but just as happy as everybody else. Her new look suited her very well.

The various flavored liquids at Ramen Ichiraku worked their magic, even on those who could not partake of them. Alice, Naruto, Shanghai, and Sakura were all in high spirits as they parted company after the shared meal. Alice and Shanghai departed to return to The Seven-Colored Puppets. Naruto and Sakura went off to do some sort of super secret thing. It was probably a prank of some kind.

Alice stopped by a store to get some cake on the way home. She wanted to treat herself to a bit of sweetness after the savory meal she had just eaten. She would have a slice when she got home, and maybe another one after dinner.

Both Alice and Shanghai were still in high spirits as they approached The Seven-Colored Puppets. This turned into wary caution in a heartbeat as a shout from inside the building made itself known. "If you don't come out right now we'll take this whole house apart plank by plank until we find you!"

Alice cautiously entered. Once her eyes had adjusted to the indoor lighting she saw a man confronting Hourai in her store. The puppet was persistently tapping the "Sorry, but Alice isn't here right now" sign over and over.

"Were you looking for me?" Alice announced herself. "I just got back. Sorry for the wait. I'm Alice Margatroid. Can I help you?"

The man turned to face her. She couldn't tell the expression on his face as it was completely hidden by a mask. Specifically, it was hidden by a weasel mask. Alice wondered if he was like Hata no Kokoro. She didn't feel especially weaselly, but she also wasn't exactly sure what a weasel felt like.

"You are to accompany me to see the Hokage," the weasel-masked man ordered.

It was short notice, but Alice didn't have anything else planned for the day besides her usual magical research and mundane puppets crafting. It wasn't anything that couldn't be put off for another day to see what the leader of this city wanted. She said, "Okay, just let me put this away."

"You are to accompany me to see the Hokage now," the weasel-masked man ordered.

"Okay, okay," Alice acceded. Her sweet tooth would need to wait for later. She held out the tray and said, "Can you put this away, Hourai?"

Hourai floated under the offered tray and then floated up to carry it over her head. Hourai held the cake steady as she flew towards the kitchen. The cake was larger than Hourai was. It made for an adorable picture.

The weasel-masked man watched the exchange impassively.

"You're in charge again while I'm out," Alice said. Hourai nodded in acknowledgment.

"If you are quite done," the weasel-masked man said.

The weasel-masked man herded Alice out the door and down the street. Shanghai came along just behind Alice. The puppet flew over Alice's shoulder, as she frequently did whenever she was left to her own devices.

It only took a couple of turns before Alice found herself in an unfamiliar part of the city. It still wasn't an issue to navigate the roads and streets. Even though Alice didn't know where she was going, the weasel-masked man was quite deft at leading her despite his staying behind her the whole time. It was a rather impressive skill.

Alice eventually reached a huge building at the foot of Hokage Mountain. It was the largest building she had seen in Konoha and easily rivaled the apparent size of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in Gensokyo. It had a expansive dirt courtyard in front with a few trees which provided some welcome shade against a summer sun. Alice paused a bit to admire the building before the weasel-masked man unsubtly pushed her forward. There were numerous entrances to the enormous building. Alice was directed to one of the ones on the right.

The receptionist in the building looked up at Alice, Shanghai, and the man when they entered. She gave no comment and quickly returned back to work. Being semi-kidnapped and taken to see the Hokage by a man in a weasel mask must not have been that odd an experience in this outside world. Every time Alice thought she had figured the place out something new would happen to remind her how different it was.

Alice was once again led from behind to a room at the top of the building. It was circular, much like many of the buildings in Konoha. Numerous windows surrounded the room and gave an open and expansive view of the city around them. The weasel-masked man stopped leading Alice. This was apparently the destination.

Dominating the room was a large desk covered with scrolls and loose paper. Sitting behind the desk and positioned in such a way that he was facing the entrance to the room was an old man. He had the creased face of a life long-lived, but that wasn't even his most notable feature. He wore an enormous hat. Written prominently front and center of the hat was the word "fire."

The man, presumably the Hokage, didn't bother looking up when Alice entered.

It was rather rude. The Hokage didn't even acknowledge their presence. Alice could understand him being busy. People such as Remilia and Patchouli, not to mention Alice herself, were frequently caught up doing whatever when unexpected visitors came. It was a fact which Marisa took advantage of more than once when visiting the Scarlet Devil Mansion library. On the other hand, Alice had been invited. A scheduling conflict shouldn't have occurred. Then again sometimes things did happen, but even so the Hokage shouldn't have been so rude as to entirely ignore Alice.

After a couple of minutes, Alice turned to the weasel-masked man. She asked, "Do you think it's going to be a while?" She got no response. She got no reaction at all.

"What do you think, Shanghai?" Alice asked.

Shanghai shrugged back.

"Maybe we should come back later," Alice said.

The puppet shrugged again.

Alice sighed. Her good mood from watching the exciting and competitive danmaku battle and then subsequently joining in the tea afterward had been thoroughly soured.

She looked out one of the windows. At least the view was nice.

Alice figured she would give the man five more minutes before leaving. The leader of the city might have been a busy man, but enough was enough. She wouldn't have waited this long for even Remilia. Flandre she might have waited for, seeing how much less mature the child was and how she had the ability to accidentally destroy the world in a pique of anger. She expected the Hokage was neither that irresponsible nor that powerful.

"Tell me," the Hokage finally said without looking up. His voice was as gravelly as Alice had imagined. "How am I supposed to feel when a ninja sneaks into my village without announcing herself and then proceeds to terrorize a bunch of our children."

Alice was wondering why he was asking her. There was a reason she was a puppet master and not something more people-oriented like a shrine maiden or a maid. She answered, "I don't know. How are you supposed to feel?"

"Pretty angry," the Hokage said.

"Okay. Why are you telling me this?" Alice asked.

"Let's not play games. Why are you here?" the Hokage asked.

That put a new spin on things. If he hadn't summoned Alice then it would have explained why the Hokage had been caught up doing other things when they had entered. Regardless, the least the man could have done was offer an apology and some refreshments, or even a place to sit.

"I don't know. You should ask that man with the weasel mask," Alice said. She glanced at the man behind her to see his reaction, and then turned more fully. He was gone. Alice turned back to the Hokage. "He was the one who had brought me here. I had assumed you had wanted to see me. If it's all a mistake, I can leave."

The Hokage raised his voice and said, "I said no games. Nobody can find you in any Bingo Books so I doubt you're gone rogue. I'll give you one chance. What are you doing in this village? Showing up unannounced is an act of war. If I like what I hear maybe I'll not destroy your village in a sea of fire and blood."

Bingo? As in the game? Alice didn't know any of that. There was one thing she had figured out, though. She put two and two together and it suddenly all made sense. His weird question from the start of the conversation, and the persistent and impossible mistake people always seemed to make in Konoha. Alice said, "I get it. This is all a misunderstanding. I'm not a ninja." In her mind she could see a puppet tapping the well-worn sign hanging in The Seven-Colored Puppets.

"So you're saying three ninja of Konoha lied when they said you..." the Hokage looked down and started reading from a scroll, "summoned hundreds of puppets, attacked them, and threatened to cut off the arm of one of them?"

"It was only 61 puppets," Alice said. She would have done more but she only had so many of that particular puppet type available. If she had had some time to prepare then she could have made hundreds of them and put on a real show.

"And the rest of it?" the Hokage asked.

"They deserved it," Alice said. "That boy intentionally broke Sakura. That's the puppet's name, by the way."

"Breaking a puppet deserves all that?"

"Of course. He wasn't even sorry," Alice said. It wasn't acceptable to treat puppets like that, especially the puppets Alice had made, and most especially the named puppets. She added, "It wasn't like I caused any permanent harm."

"They'll have nightmares for weeks."

"And they'll not hurt any innocent puppets in the future," Alice said.

"And you still insist you're not a ninja?" the Hokage asked.

"Do I look like a ninja?" Alice asked. Given all of the past accusations directed to her, Alice didn't give him a chance to answer. "I'm not a ninja."

"All your neighbors say you're a ninja," the Hokage said.

"I told them I'm not a ninja too," Alice said. She wondered if she could make a more emphatic sign to hang up in the store.

"Let's say for a second that you aren't a ninja. Then what are you?" the Hokage asked.

"I'm a puppeteer," Alice answered.

"I know some civilian puppeteers. They can only control a couple of puppets and they use strings," the Hokage said. "How do you do what you do?"

"I'm a master puppeteer," Alice said, "and I use magic to control my puppets."

"You don't use chakra to control them?" the Hokage asked.

Chakra? Those energy points in the body? That made no sense. If she was going to use her body directly then Alice would just use her hands. They had much more dexterity than sticking a string to her forehead, as an example. Alice said, "I guess I could if I really wanted to, but I've never really tried."

"You're just a puppeteer," the Hokage said.

"A master puppeteer," Alice said.

"And your interested in Naruto is just a coincidence," the Hokage said.

It was a major topic change. Alice didn't see the connection, but she went along with it. She said, "I guess so. He's just a kid who comes around sometimes. He seems pretty lonely so I play with him sometimes."

"There's nothing more than that?" the Hokage asked.

"Why do you care about Naruto? From what I can tell the only people who care about him are a ramen seller and his daughter," Alice said. She had never seen anybody else treat Naruto with anything other than apathy and scorn.

"All you need to know is that I'm going to stop you and whatever it is you plan on doing with him," the Hokage said.

"I don't see why it's any of your business if we play some games sometimes," Alice said.

"It's my business as Hokage," the Hokage said.

Alice really disliked dealing with all these people. In Gensokyo it could sometimes get annoying, but at least there she mostly understood everybody. In this outside world Alice couldn't make any sense of anybody, their leader least of all. Why couldn't it be easy, like puppetry?

"You know what I think?" the Hokage continued. "I think you're an infiltration ninja, sent here to hurt our village. I'm going to hand you over to T&I and they are going to pull your head apart until you can't think straight. We're going to find out which village sent you, what your mission is, and every secret you don't even know you have. Your mission has failed and your village is going to burn."

Instantly kunai were flying at Alice from every direction. They appeared as if out of thin air. It took Alice by surprise. Gravely by surprise. However surprise didn't mean unprepared. Knives appearing out of nowhere was a common occurrence when fighting against Sakuya and her ability to stop time. Alice could hold her own against the Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and she was sure she could hold her own in the face of this surprise attack.

Alice danced around the kunai, moving only the barest amount needed to get out of the way. She took a great deal of pride in her skill, especially whenever she maneuvered little enough that a kunai grazed against her and left a tear in her dress. It was a mark of her precision and judgment. It was just like a danmaku battle. Kind of like a danmaku battle. The projectiles flying her direction didn't glow with the light and beauty of a spell card of somebody like Reimu. That was outweighed by the refreshing novelty of the fight. She had faced the familiar and well-known patterns of her own puppets for quite some time, and Naruto's barrage of rocks was interesting but one-dimensional. Interacting with some new patterns was an interesting change.

Not content to simply take whatever was being thrown at her, Alice decided to return the favor. She pulled out a spell card. A relatively moderate one to begin with. Alice hated going all out.

"Elegant Sign 'Spring Kyoto Dolls.'"

A dozen puppets appeared and surrounded Alice. They started shooting out their bullets in the well choreographed patterns designed to blanket the area while leaving just enough of an opening for those who were both observant and patient to dodge through. The force of the spell card threw back all of the metal projectiles flying towards Alice, giving her an unnecessary but still appreciated breather.

"Genjutsu!" somebody shouted. Immediately several people shouted, "Kai!"

The bullets from the puppets covered the room as they were designed to, leaving a slight stinging impact on everybody they hit. Six masked people, mostly men, materialized in the wake of her spell card. They all wore masks, much like the weasel-masked man who had collected Alice. There was a bear, and a rat, and a tiger, among several others. Each mask was different.

Alice paused her attack. She had scored a hit. Multiple hits. Courtesy demanded she pause to allow both sides to recover.

The masked people didn't.

The breaking of the form of danmaku took Alice by surprise, much more so than the sudden appearance of the kunai in the first place. Alice was taken so much by surprise that she was almost stabbed in the chest by one flying kunai. She dodged away at the last second. The weapon grazed against her dress and slashed another tear in it. Unlike the other grazes, Alice took no pride in that near miss. It was a comment on her carelessness and luck, not on her skill.

This wasn't a danmaku battle, no matter how much Alice's skills applied. That the masked people continuing to attack despite being hit was more than enough proof of that. That wasn't even taking into account the threat the Hokage had said to Alice before the fight had started. This was no playful game between girls.

This left Alice with two options. She could escalate or she could escape. If she wanted to she had no doubt that she could destroy the room and everybody in it. And probably the building. And maybe a good portion of the city if she really cut loose. She was no Remilia, but Alice had a fair bit of magic to her, especially if she opened the Grimoire of Alice. Even with the unmeasurable amount of hard work it took to change from human to magician, there was no way to do so without having a certain amount of raw magical power.

But did she want to? Alice was many things, but she was no murderer. And what had the Hokage and the others really done? They were only trying to protect their city. It was all a huge misunderstanding. Alice wasn't sure she could live with herself if she did anything too drastic, and she knew she would have a great many years in front of her to live with herself.

That left escape. For an escape she would want a distraction. It was much easier to get out without concurrently being attacked from every angle. It was a good thing danmaku was focused on being beautiful and eye-catching, and that spell cards by their nature cleared the area of incoming attacks.

"Puppeteer Sign 'Maiden's Bunraku -Lunatic-.'"

It wasn't Alice's biggest attack, but it was one of her bigger ones, and it was one of her more directed ones. She focused the beams of the spell card at a nearby window and let the flurry of bullets fly around the room as they did. The goal was threefold. The first was to dazzle and distract her various attackers. The second was to break some and preferably all of the windows around the room. The third was to clear the air, both to take stock of the situation as well as to create an easy path to the hopefully open window. It would be a quick fly away after that.

The lights cleared.

To Alice's dismay, the windows were all left intact. It was quite annoying. In fact, aside from a couple of scrolls and papers which had been scattered around the room, the spell card had had no effect at all.

Alice realized what the problem was one panicked second later. It was obvious in retrospect. Of course a spell card wouldn't break the window. That was the whole purpose of the spell card system: to subdue the devastating and deadly magic of the user into a flashy and beautiful but ultimately harmless attack. If it weren't for the spell card system, the first time Remilia cast a Scarlet Meister or Marisa cast a Final Spark, the Scarlet Devil Mansion would have been leveled. Likely a large swath of the Forest of Magic would have been eradicated too.

The solution was obvious once Alice had figured that out. She would just need to not use a spell card. This called for something more serious. She would need to do it by hand.

Alice subdivided her attention, keeping only a minimal amount focused on her assailants all around her in case one of them launched a surprise attack. She might not have a mini-Hakkero, but that only limited the amount of power she had available, not her abilities. It was just a laser. It was not difficult. She concentrated her mind, muttered the spell tenderly, aimed at the target she didn't like, and unleashed her annihilation of love.

The laser blasted at the selected window. It was the fundamental attack upon which the Maiden's Bunraku spell card had been based. However it lacked the plethora of bullets, the flashy effects, and the limitations which had intentionally been built into the spell card. It was simply a large magicannon focused on the target.

The beam struck against the window with a hard knock, but it had no other effect. It was odd. Alice hadn't used that much power, but an ordinary window shouldn't have been able to resist even that much.

Alice focused more of her energy into it. And then more.

The window eventually gave up in the face of Alice's attack and blew outward. Despite everything Alice had thrown at it, the glass was still in one piece. It was very fractured, but it still held together. However the failure of the window as a whole still left a gap through which Alice and Shanghai could escape.

"Let's go," Alice said to Shanghai. She put her words into action and floated up and then straight out the window. Two seconds later, Alice was out into the open air with Shanghai right beside her.

The attackers still in the room had recovered and were now at the window, throwing various projectiles at her. They were barely even worth noticing as Alice flew away. Countless danmaku battles had honed Alice's situational awareness to the point where sometimes it felt like she was watching herself from the third person. That wasn't actually the case, but it felt like it at times. Even attacks from behind, like the ones she was evading from the various masked people, were simple to detect and avoid.

Alice drifted to the left to avoid a last volley of projectiles sent her way. Despite the large and growing distance between Alice and the now open window, the aim of her attackers had been right on the mark. If Alice hadn't moved then she would have been rewarded with a kunai in the back.

The kunai continued to sail through the air until it landed on the ground. At that point it exploded.

If Alice hadn't moved then she would have been rewarded with a kunai in the back and an explosion.

Alice hurried her escape.

She landed back at her house and took stock of the situation. She had received 12 grazes, 11 of which had been intentional. Not too bad for the short skirmish.

"I'm back," Alice announced as she entered The Seven-Colored Puppets. Hourai moved into view to greet her, and then did a double take upon catching sight of Alice.

"The meeting was rather unpleasant," Alice said. Shanghai nodded in agreement.

Hourai accepted the minimal explanation.

"Keep guard here. I'm going to set up some protections and post some sentries," Alice said. Hourai and Shanghai both saluted to her.

Alice supplemented their guard by setting up a few squads of puppets to keep watch of the windows and the roof of her home. She was very worried after that meeting with the Hokage. Alice wondered what he was going to do.

That wasn't the only thing she was wondering. Alice wondered what she should do. She had been thinking about leaving Konoha ever since she had first moved in. On the positive side, it was nice to have a steady supply of all the amenities a city could provide. On the negative side, the traffic of people both outside and inside her house ranged from distracting to infuriating. It was annoying to be jerked away from some deep contemplation by an angry couple shouting at each other outside or by a difficult customer inside.

Alice also wondered what she should do in regard to the Hokage. She supposed she should offer to share some tea with him. They had just had a fight which had now been concluded, in a fashion. But she really didn't want to. The meeting had left her feeling rather sour. She honestly didn't want to see him or any of those masked people ever again. She had no interest in getting to know them better, and she wasn't sure what they would do the next time they met.

Given the situation, Alice decided to not indulge in her daily sleep that evening. She wanted to be available in case anything strange did happen during the night. Sleep was a luxury which, much like food, Alice hadn't strictly speaking needed since becoming a magician. She still ate and she still slept on a regular basis, though. She enjoyed both as much as when she had been human. Actually she enjoyed them even more than when she had been human, as they were now an option rather than a requirement. It would be a disappointment to skip her daily luxury of sleep, but it was better than being caught unaware in the event of a surprise attack.

Alice instead spent the night doing something she enjoyed as much as sleeping. She spent the time crafting her puppets. She didn't do any serious research. She was still too shaken up and distracted to really concentrate. Alice instead lost herself in the simple meditative motions of crafting. She could make her puppets from rout memory, so she was able focus as much or as little attention as she wanted to on the materials in front of her. It left the remainder of her concentration to think about how the day had gone and to pay attention to if her puppets noticed anything.

In the end there was only one possible conclusion. Alice didn't like it at all. She wasn't sure how dangerous it would be for her. She never wanted to see the Hokage again, but that was the point of it all. The point of sharing tea after a fight, danmaku or otherwise. The point was to smooth over any upset feelings and make sure the situation in Gensokyo didn't become untenable. It worked all the time in Gensokyo, and who was Alice to doubt it?

The first thing Alice did in the morning was write out a note. She cordially invited the Hokage to her house for tea. She forced herself to write one of the generic friendly letter that had served her so well in Gensokyo. She checked it over to make sure she hadn't made any mistakes and then handed it to one of her puppets for hand delivery to the Hokage.

Rather than taking the long and circuitous route through the city that the weasel-masked man had directed Alice through the day before, she had the puppet to take the much more direct and faster path of flying over the city straight there. Once the puppet had reached the destination, she was to go back to ground level and enter in through the door. She could have entered through the window Alice had broken during her escape, assuming the window was still broken, but that would have been rude. It would hardly do to try to smooth over any hurt feelings with the Hokage and the others by highlighting Alice's having damaged his office. The puppet would deliver the letter to the receptionist and see what would happen. If things went well then the puppet would return with a response. In the meantime, Alice returned to her crafting.

Something did return, but it wasn't the puppet Alice had sent out. As noon approached, Alice heard a familiar voice call out, "Hey, Shanghai." A few seconds later, Naruto entered.

"What happened with the old man?" Naruto asked.

"What old man?" Alice asked.

"You know, the old man. The Hokage. He was really angry," Naruto said.

"You know the Hokage?" Alice asked. Despite all the times Naruto had mentioned the old man, Alice had never made the connection that he was talking about the Hokage. In thinking back to the lack of deference Naruto had had whenever he had referred to him, it still didn't sound quite right.

"Yeah. Doesn't everybody?" Naruto asked back. "He called me into his office in a big hurry and told me I wasn't supposed to see you anymore. What happened?"

"If he said that then what are doing here?" Alice asked.

"We're friends, aren't we?" Naruto asked. Alice wasn't sure. She decided that yes, they were friends. "I've been avoiding the police and ninja for years. It's real easy. Believe it. They don't even have you guarded half as well as the Hyuga's place, and I prank them all the time."

"They have guards out there?" Alice asked. Her puppets hadn't noticed anything amiss.

"Yeah. Just a couple. No big deal," Naruto said. "So what'd you do? I bet it was totally awesome. He wasn't that mad even when I nailed the door to the academy shut."

"I don't know," Alice said. "Some masked guy showed up and brought me to the Hokage. Next thing I know, he accused me of being a ninja and attacked me."

"But you're not a ninja," Naruto said. At least one person in Konoha believed Alice, even if it was the city's pariah.

"That's what I said, but they attacked me anyway. Take a look," Alice said. She pulled out the dress she had worn the day before. It was covered with the cuts and tears from the fight.

"That's a lot of grazes," Naruto said. Admiration was evident in his voice.

"They threw a lot of things at me," Alice said. She tried to be humble. She was skilled at danmaku, but it wasn't good to be too prideful. There was always somebody better.

"So what're you going to do now?" Naruto asked.

"It depends on the Hokage. I invited him to tea," Alice said as if it explained everything.

Naruto nodded in understanding. He asked, "What if he doesn't come?"

"I'm not sure. I'll probably leave the city," Alice said. She had no desire to live in constant fear of being attacked, especially by masked men and women who threw explosives at her.

"You can't leave," Naruto said. "It's... it's dangerous out there."

"I've lived on my own in a forest before," Alice said. Ironically, Alice found it easier than living in a city.

"But... they got the best ramen here," Naruto said, trying a different argument.

Alice shrugged back. The normally bubbly face of Naruto had collapsed. It tugged at Alice's heart.

"But I don't want you to go," Naruto said. His face showed the stress and disappointment of abandonment.

"It all depends on the Hokage," Alice said. She waffled back and forth. "How about this? You can keep a secret, right?"

"Of course I can. Believe it," Naruto said.

"If I end up moving, I'll tell you where I go. That way you can come and visit," Alice said. Leaving Konoha was a very different thing from leaving forever. It wasn't like she was like Yukari, who could make a gap and actually leave the world. Not yet, at least. Fortunately the forest surrounding Konoha was like the Forest of Magic. Alice was confident that it was large enough to get lost in.

"You promise?" Naruto asked.

"I promise," Alice said.

* * *

Noon came and went. Alice had no other visitors. She didn't even have any casual shoppers. Her business wasn't overwhelming, but she usually had a couple of people here and there. The puppet she had sent out with the invitation to the Hokage hadn't yet returned either. She tried to her locating spell and located that puppet as being underground at that large building she had visited before. No matter what scenarios she came up with, Alice couldn't think of a good situation which would lead to this set of circumstances.

"What do you think, Shanghai?" Alice asked. Shanghai shook her head back.

"What about you, Hourai?" Hourai shook her head back too.

"What about this house?" Alice asked. Shanghai leaned her head against her hand in thought. She shrugged back. Hourai was more definitive, shaking her head.

"I suppose you're right. Somebody else might be able to use it."

The first thing Alice did was to write out a large sign declaring that the house had been abandoned and was open to whomever wanted it. She hung it prominently in the front of the store in a way such that anybody entering couldn't help but see it.

Alice then summoned up a large number of puppets and got to work. Their many hands made the work fast, and in short order Alice had her furniture combined, her garden packed, the Grimoire of Alice in hand, and everything ready for transportation.

The conversation from earlier with Naruto was still firm in her mind. There were some people guarding her, and Alice had no desire to confront them. Not when she had all of her possessions in tow behind her. Not even if she hadn't had all of her possessions in tow behind her.

It seemed like nobody really flew in this outside world. It made the escape path of choice obvious. Not that she would drop her guard. She had been caught by surprise in the past. She had no desire to be so again.

Alice left The Seven-Colored Puppets for the last time and flew straight up. Her substantial caravan of puppets trailed behind her. Up and up she went, higher than even strongest throwing arm could throw. Up higher than that, until the city below appeared like an intricate model painstakingly created by a modeler with as much loving attention to detail as Alice gave to her puppets.

Once she was reasonably confident she was out of range of any attacker, she turned and flew off into the forest surrounding Konoha.

* * *

Last Updated: June 16, 2014


	5. 5: Incomplete Realizations

Chapter 5: Incomplete Realizations

Leaving Konoha had been the right decision. Running The Seven-Colored Puppets had taken a lot of time and energy. That had long been known to Alice. It had been less clear exactly how much of both it had taken. While she had been in the middle of it, she had thought her remotely controlled puppets selling themselves had limited the amount of distraction the store had caused her.

It quickly became apparent that that had not been true once Alice had no longer needed to run the puppet store. Her semi-automated system may have minimized the distractions, but they had still been substantial. So much so that Alice had finally had a breakthrough with step 4 of her longterm plan to return to Gensokyo. She solved the dilemma which had stymied her for months only a couple weeks after she had left Konoha and all of the distractions the city provided. That even included the couple of days she had spent setting up her new home.

Getting settled in the forest had been even easier than getting set up in Konoha had been. Wood had been plentiful in the city, but it was nothing in comparison to being in the forest proper. Making an appropriate clearing had been fast and had provided more than enough materials to remake a house. The only thing which had taken a bit more time was getting all of her things in order. Unlike when Alice had been unexpectedly and inexplicably gapped to this outside world, her migration away from Konoha took with it a caravan of furniture, supplies, and general stuff. It took a couple of days to re-set everything and re-establish the patterns and schedules for cooking, managing the garden, and performing the other chores around the house.

The location Alice had selected was isolated in the middle of the forest. It was maybe 30 minutes away from Konoha as The Seven-Colored Puppeteer flew. It was close enough that it would be easy to visit the city in a few months once things had quieted a bit and tempers were re-gained, but it was also far enough away that there was only a minimal chance of being discovered by any masked assailants. She had strategically selected a natural enclave surrounded by some mountains, and she had intentionally crossed a couple of unnavigable features of terrain to make the trip much longer on foot. It made it almost impossible for anybody traveling by ground to accidentally stumble across her house.

The isolated clearing Alice had made for herself was a nice one. It had a scenic grove of trees nearby and a good view of some mountains in the distance. Except for the lack of youkai and the absence of everybody she had known before, it could have been Gensokyo. It could have been home.

In fact it might need to become home. Alice had become stymied again in her research. It was a huge issue, too. Unlike her previous problems, Alice knew what she needed to do to solve it; she just couldn't do it.

The solution to step 4 of Alice's longterm plan to return to Gensokyo sat patiently in the corner of the room in the form of Shimon. She was relatively unassuming in nature. She was average-sized, if not a bit smaller than most. Breaking through the barrier barring her way to Gensokyo, whether it was the Great Hakurei Barrier or some analogous one, needed some major power. It was tempting to picture some huge Goliath-sized puppet wielding that power and smashing down all in her way. But that would have been counterproductive. Shimon was much more compact and would much more efficiently concentrate the massive amount of power needed to break through the barrier.

Which was exactly the problem.

The last and only roadblock to fulfilling step 5 of Alice's plan and returning to Gensokyo was one of raw power. She needed some major energy to use Shimon to her fullest degree. Paris was very high maintenance and draining, but Shimon took that to an extreme. Alice quite simply couldn't use Shimon.

Not for the first time, Alice regretted that Marisa wasn't present. Even more so, Alice regretted not having access to Marisa's mini-Hakkero. It would likely have been enough to power Shimon to open a gap back to Gensokyo. Alice just couldn't match that level of energy. She knew what she had to do. She just couldn't do it.

Alice hadn't given up hope yet, though. She hadn't figured out how to power Shimon, but she had only been working on this last problem for a couple of weeks. It would take her years of search and research before she would even start to think about giving up. It had taken a lot of time and hard work to become a magician. Compared to that, what were a few more years?

In the meantime, she enjoyed her time in this outside world. It was a pleasant enough place. She didn't need to worry about being attacked and possibly eaten by a youkai. She did need to worry about being attacked and possibly exploded by a masked man. Neither was an exceptional risk, but they were dangers she needed to remain aware of.

The chance of encountering either was minimal as Alice didn't leave her home very often. She had little reason to. She had her puppets for company and she had her garden for food and drink when she felt like it. It was similar to how she had lived her life back in Gensokyo. In Gensokyo, she would generally only leave home when invited by some person or some event. Unlike in Gensokyo, in this outside world that never happened. She was never visited by lost travelers, and the only person she really cared about was disinclined to invite her home or anywhere else. It left her with plenty of time to devote to the passion she loved so much.

Alice had had lost count of the number of puppets she had made since leaving the city. Some puppets she crafted for fun. Others puppets she crafted for research. Many puppets she crafted just for the company. Her house was covered with a variety of puppets, not unlike her home in Gensokyo had been. This included a specific puppet which sat on a shelf, waiting for the next time Naruto visited.

That puppet was special. Even though she didn't have a name yet, Alice knew she was special. Alice had felt like this when she had made Shanghai, Paris, and the various other named puppets. This still-unnamed puppet already had a certain amount of character. She was a bit of a tomboy. She had short hair and refused to wear a dress. Alice had tried a few times, but she couldn't get her to wear one. In the end, Alice gave her an orange shirt and shorts. She looked more likely to get into a fight than to do any housework, and would likely do the former if anybody tried to make her do the latter.

"Just a little bit longer. You'll have a name soon," Alice said to the puppet. She caused the puppet to look up and nod back at her.

Alice knew that Naruto would show up eventually. He always did. Unscheduled and unannounced, of course. He was unpredictable like that.

Despite his unpredictability, Alice had her own ways of knowing when he would visit. She had several lines of puppets hidden away in multiple layers to act as sentries for her house. As far she knew, her house hadn't been found by anybody besides Naruto, but she didn't want to take any chances with those people from Konoha. It was a bit of easy insurance to set up some sentries to watch for humanoid figures approaching.

One of the puppets she had placed in a sentry perimeter around her house signaled that Naruto was approaching, so Alice was well ready for his arrival. It took him far longer to show up than usual. She would have expected him to arrive at her doorstep maybe a minute or maybe two after he was first seen. It was more like five before Alice could see him approaching the door where she waited to greet him. His bright orange jumpsuit stood out against the greens and browns of the forest.

Alice immediate guessed what had happened. She recognized the signs. She had seen Naruto like this only once before, and it had been a while ago.

"Did you fail your ninja test again?" she asked.

"No. I passed," Naruto said. He sounded incredibly dejected for somebody who had achieved the goal he had been working towards for years. He pulled a metal plate attached to a strip of cloth out of his pocket as he said this.

"What's that?" Alice asked.

"It's a forehead protector. It's proof that I'm a ninja now," Naruto said.

"So that's what that is," Alice mused to herself. It suddenly all came together. All of those weird people back in Konoha who had had those metal forehead protectors. They had been the ninjas that everybody had always talked about. They didn't at all match her mental picture of what a ninja should be, but in a strange way it made some sense. Now the only question was who were those people with the masks.

"Congratulations," Alice said. However, Naruto didn't look very happy. "That is good, right?"

"Yeah. It's definitely good," Naruto said.

"Then why are you so upset?" Alice asked.

"That's not the only thing that happened today. I found out why everybody hates me so much," Naruto said.

"Oh," Alice said. That might cause somebody to become depressed no matter what the reason was. "Why is it?"

"I don't want to say. You'll hate me too," Naruto said sullenly.

"No I won't," Alice said.

"You promise?" Naruto asked.

"I promise," Alice said.

Naruto still looked pensive, but said, "It... that is... One of my teachers told me that I'm actually a demon."

"You're a what?" Alice asked. She was sure she had misheard him.

"A demon. A monster. They sealed me in this form 12 years ago after I attacked the village," Naruto said.

She had heard him correctly, but she was extremely skeptical of his claim. If Naruto was a demon then Alice would have been able to feel that he was a youkai the first time she had seen him, not to mention every time they had met thereafter. Anybody with supernatural senses could feel the presence of a youkai. That was unless Naruto could hide as well as Mamizou Futatsuiwa and more persistently than the Bake-danuki with Ten Transformations ever did. However, in that case Naruto presumably would have already known he was a youkai and not be surprised here.

"A demon? And you believe that?" Alice asked.

"Not really, but I overheard him talking with another one of my teachers when they thought I wasn't around. The other one was saying that I was still a good student despite that," Naruto said.

"Oh," Alice said. She still didn't believe Naruto. She couldn't believe it without seeing for herself.

Alice leaned into Naruto and peered at him in an intense examination. Only when she was practically touching him and searching with acute attention could she feel the tickle of something from him. It was very slight, and far smaller than she would have expected even if Naruto was as young as he appeared to be. It was possible that he was a sealed demon, like he said. But if that was the case, than whoever had sealed him had been impossibly skilled. Alice hadn't even known it was possible to seal a demon in a way which would still let him move around in the world. Moreover, despite being ambulatory, Alice felt even less from Naruto than from the demons sealed in the books and scrolls that could be found in Kosuzu Motoori's store, in the Scarlet Devil Mansion library, and dotted across Gensokyo.

Naruto jumped back, and shouted, "What're you doing?"

"I guess I can kind of feel it, now that you mention it," Alice said.

"You can tell?" Naruto asked.

"Most youkai can sense other youkai," Alice said. It was a natural extension of the supernatural abilities youkai had.

"You're a demon too?" Naruto asked. He looked more curious than sullen now.

"No. I'm a magician, but that's just another type of youkai," Alice said. She was relatively sure she had told Naruto at some point in the past, but she couldn't remember. It wasn't like she had been keeping it a secret or anything.

"But that's different. I'm strong enough to destroy Konoha. Aren't you scared? Even I'm scared," Naruto asked.

"Not really. I could destroy Konoha too," Alice said. It would take a veritable army of puppets, but she could control a veritable army of puppets. That wasn't even considering the fact that if she needed to she could always use the Grimoire of Alice. "Most of the people I know could," Alice continued. She started to name people, counting them off on her fingers as she spoke.

"Flandre could." Not only that. If she wasn't careful she could accidentally destroy the whole planet while she was at it.

"Remilia could." And not only just by using raw strength. A little manipulation of fate and the city would simply cease to be. Nobody would even be able to link it to Remilia.

"Sakuya could." It would take countless knife cuts to destroy a building, let alone a city. If Sakuya stopped time, she could do each and every one of those cuts and more.

"Marisa could." A Final Master Spark outside the form of a spell card could eradicate a city. There was no indication that the mini-Hakkero couldn't do even more.

"Even Cirno could." Then again, maybe that 9-ball couldn't. "Maybe." She was Cirno, after all.

"All those people?" Naruto asked.

"And more," Alice said. "It's not that big a deal in Gensokyo. Just treat each other nicely, settle your fights with a danmaku battle, and share some tea afterwards."

"It's not that easy," Naruto said. "Don't you see? I was the one who attacked them back then. I killed all those people."

"Why did you do it?" Alice asked.

"I don't know. I don't even remember doing it," Naruto said.

"Would you do it again?" Alice asked.

"No way. Believe it," Naruto said.

"See? That's all that matters. They should let bygones be bygones. Sometimes things happen. Just share some tea and forget all about the hard feelings after an Incident," Alice said. She thought anybody holding a grudge for that long was unreasonable. Still, it put a new spin on Alice's plans. Given the long memories of the people in Konoha, she would probably need to wait for the Hokage to die and the memory of her fight to completely fade away before she revisited the city, not merely wait for tempers to be re-gained. She wondered how long that would take. The Hokage did look rather old when she had seen him.

Naruto had the glassy look in his eye of having heard just one thing too much for the day. Alice decided that the discussion of youkai and manners had been too much for Naruto and moved on to something a bit more concrete. She asked, "So you passed your test then, right? Does this mean you can use the... what was that again... bunshin no jutsu?" It was finally a chance to find out what that actually was.

"No, but I can do something way more awesome. Watch this," Naruto said. His enthusiasm was back. He brought his hands forward.

"Wait. Stop," Alice interrupted him before he could continue. "Is this like that perverted henge technique you showed me?" Ever since that one demonstration, Alice had grown cautious whenever Naruto would show off a technique for the first time.

"It's nothing like that, although I guess I could combine them," Naruto said. He got the thoughtful look in his eye that he got whenever he was planning an excessively intricate prank.

"No," Alice interrupted him again. "Just show me the regular technique."

"Alright," Naruto said. He re-raised his hands and placed them together in a strange orientation. The room was suddenly filled a flood of orange. Dozens upon dozens of Narutos appeared out of nowhere. Alice was pressed in from all sides. It felt like she didn't even have room to breath.

"Quit shoving!" one of the Narutos shouted.

Another Naruto shouted, "Move over!"

"I don't got anywhere to move," a different Naruto answered.

"Dummy, you created too many of us," one of the other Narutos said.

"What'd you want me to do about it?" Naruto's voice chimed out.

Chaotic shouting dominated the room. It went on for a few seconds until one of the Narutos said, "Just dispel some of us."

"On it," Naruto's voice answered.

Promptly the room was covered in smoke. It evaporated unnaturally quickly. In a few seconds the room was clear again except for Alice and what appeared to be five remaining Narutos.

"This is the bunshin technique?" Alice asked. Cloning. It was an apt term. Each of them looked identical. As a master puppeteer, Alice was well attenuated to noticing the minute differences between seemingly identical puppets. Despite that she could identify nothing to distinguish each of the Narutos from the other. Even the Sakuras held at each of the Narutos' sides seemed identical, and Alice had never seen two perfectly identical puppets before. Even when she tried to make identical puppets some minute differences would creep into each individual. It was an impressive trick.

"No, we're way better," the Naruto on the far right said.

Shanghai flew over to that Naruto for a closer examination. She peered closely and started poking his hair and clothing. She then floated down to the Sakura in his pouch, pulled her out, and carried her over to Hourai. That Naruto withstood the examination and the loss of Sakura with mostly good graces.

"Yeah. We're solid and can do things and everything," a Naruto on the middle left said.

"We're way better than some boring illusion," second from the right agreed.

Something struck Alice about the clones. Their interactions suggested they were at least semi-autonomous, and she didn't notice any signs that Naruto was controlling any of them directly. It looked exceptionally promising as a technique.

"Are they all real?" Alice asked.

"Yeah. Of course we're real. Believe it," the middle Naruto said.

"No, this is important, are they really real. Are they all autonomous?" Alice asked.

"Autonomous? What's that?" the Naruto on the far left asked.

"Independent. They do things on their own. You don't need to control them," Alice said.

"Yeah, of course we can. We do what the boss says because he's the boss, but we're just as good as he is," the Naruto in the middle said.

"You are me," the Naruto on the far left said.

"See what I mean," the middle Naruto said.

Alice's eyes lit up. This could be the trick she needed to achieve her goal of having a fully autonomous puppet. She eagerly asked, "How do you do that technique?" She tried moving her hands to mimic what Naruto had done earlier, but she hadn't been watching him very closely so wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do.

"You need to..." the second Naruto on the left started say.

"Hold it," the Naruto on the far right said. "Group huddle."

The five Narutos moved into a circle and started whispering to each other. Alice only caught snippets of things like "only her" and "village secret." They re-broke and returned into rough a line.

"Sorry, but I can't tell you," Naruto, seemingly the original Naruto, said.

"Oh," Alice said. "How about if I beat you in a danmaku battle you tell me?"

"Yeah. Bring it on," one of the Naruto clones said. He reached into a pouch strapped to his leg. A different Naruto punched that clone in the back of his head. It knocked him to his down to knees, whereupon he disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The Sakura puppet that Shanghai and Hourai were examining disappeared in a corresponding cloud of smoke, causing both of them to fly backwards in surprise. "Idiot. We can't be betting village secrets like that."

Alice was disappointed. Besides her goal of returning to Gensokyo, Alice had never given up her other longterm goal of creating a fully autonomous puppet. This lead was a brand new one which could have helped her substantially on her path. It was infuriating to be so close but still be denied any information about it. If techniques like that existed in this outside world, maybe there was a bright spot to being stuck a little bit longer.

"But let's still fight. I want to try out this super cool new technique," Naruto said.

Alice didn't need to be prompted twice. It would be a good way to distract her from the disappointment she felt. She was also eager to see how Naruto's new technique would affect their game. She expected that it would add a substantial degree of difficulty, like fighting against a team of puppets in a way.

They migrated outside. There was a bit of a mix up at the door while the different clones figured out in what order they would leave. It was much easier for Alice and Shanghai to make their exit. Hourai stayed behind. She continued to hang in the corner of the room as she was inclined to do so as the others left.

Alice quite enjoyed danmaku battles and she didn't bother hiding her excitement. The additions of the three additional clones was certain to make things much more interesting. More bullets only made the fight that much more challenging and thus more exciting.

"Ready?" Naruto asked. His hands remained free of the rocks that Alice had grown accustomed to him carrying in their danmaku battles.

"You don't need your bag?" Alice asked.

"No, I'm ready. Believe it," Naruto said.

That took Alice by surprise. Without his bag of rocks, Naruto would immediately start on the faster unencumbered second phase of his attack pattern. However, he wouldn't really have that much to attack with. Naruto had to have had a plan. Alice wasn't sure what it was, and that edge of unpredictability added even more excitement to the game Alice was already looking forward to having.

They began.

The addition of the three clones did make things much more interesting. With quadruple the number of sources of attack, it was enough that Alice had to really concentrate to prevent getting cornered while she dodged. The additional angles of attack also meant that she had to give them a much wider berth than ordinary as she herded the shots around the arena. If Naruto ever figured out proper coordination and flanking maneuvers, he would be a force to be reckoned with.

The Narutos ran out of projectiles as quickly as Alice had expected. Without his larger store of rocks, he was limited to the handfuls he kept in his pouches. Alice didn't completely let down her guard. There was always the chance that Naruto could pull out his kunai and other more expensive weapons. However, regardless of what he did, it signaled the end of what Alice had predicted and the beginning of the unexpected.

One of the Narutos pulled out a scroll. It was fairly large and far less convenient than the spell cards that were traditionally used in danmaku.

"Sealing Skill 'Infinite Barrage!'"

Alice snapped to attention. She had assumed that the super cool new technique Naruto wanted to try was the bunshin one, but apparently she had been wrong. She readied a spell card of her own, prepared to counter whatever spell card or similar emulation that Naruto was about to use.

The next thing Alice knew, that Naruto was covered in a miniature mountain of rocks. She stared at the outcome in disbelief.

A rock dinged off her arm.

"I did it! I got her!" one of the Narutos shouted.

"Yeah!" and "I knew we could do it!" the other Narutos congratulated him.

Alice was stunned. Not because she had lost. She hated going all out and preferred to win by using strategy rather than just using overwhelming power, so occasionally losing to Naruto wasn't unheard of. Rather the extremely unusual technique of Naruto's took her aback, and the lack of reaction from the clones surprised her even more. She asked, "Aren't you worried about him?"

"Nah. The boss'll be alright," the clone who had managed to hit Alice said.

The small mountain which had buried Naruto erupted out and sent pebbles flying everywhere. Naruto emerged with a shout and collapsed over. He was panting hard and looked half-dead. He didn't even bother to try to free his legs which remained buried in the rock. He gasped out, "I thought I was going to die."

"See?" the clone from before said.

"Why didn't you guys help me?" the half-buried Naruto asked.

"We got her good," a different clone said. Another one agreed, saying, "Wait until you get the memories."

Naruto was already looking substantially better after just a few seconds of rest. No matter what else could be said about him, he had an incredible amount of stamina. Now that Alice knew Naruto was a youkai, albeit sealed, it made a lot more sense. She could practically see the weariness disappearing from him as she watched. Moments later, Naruto gathered himself to completely pull free from the pile.

They left the arena behind and returned to the Alice's home. The tea and snacks for two had already been prepared by the puppets in the house.

"What about me?" one of the Narutos said.

"I'm hungry too," another Naruto said.

"No ramen?" a third Naruto complained.

Naruto, the real Naruto, dispelled the other Narutos in another puff of smoke.

Alice shared a light snack and tea with Naruto as pleasantly as always. Despite how unusual the danmaku battle had been, especially its ending, Alice felt much better after it and the subsequent tea. She was still intensely curious about that bunshin technique, but she no longer felt tempted to throttle Naruto and choke his secrets out of him. She could find out more about the technique as time went on, either from Naruto's using it or from somebody else. If a young Naruto could stumble across it, Alice was confident that she would eventually be able to find something herself. She could be patient and learn what she could.

There was one other thing she wanted to know more about, and maybe it wasn't a village secret. She asked, "What was that scroll you used?"

"This?" Naruto asked. He pulled out another large scroll and handed it to Alice. "It's a sealing scroll."

"Sealing? This is that fuinjutsu you were talking about?" Alice asked. She unfurled the scroll. It wasn't quite like anything she had ever seen before. It lacked the simple description of a spell, unlike the spell cards she had expected given how Naruto had used one in danmaku moments earlier. Alice also didn't feel anything from the scroll, unlike what she would have expected to feel if a youkai had been sealed into the scroll. Alice had no doubt that the scroll was something special, but from everything she could tell it looked like just an ordinary scroll covered with symbols and scratches that Alice couldn't make any sense of.

"Yeah. It was real easy. I figured it out all by myself," Naruto said.

"And that pile of rocks?" Alice asked. She hadn't ever heard of anything inanimate being sealed before. Whatever else could be said for this strange outside world, their sealing abilities were certainly advanced.

"It never did that during practice. I'm going to work at it more and make a super cool unbeatable jutsu. Believe it," Naruto said.

"I'm sure you will," Alice said. She quickly but tentatively re-curled the scroll shut and nervously handed it back to Naruto. She assumed it was safe, but based on what Naruto had just said she was no longer sure. She had no desire to end up buried herself.

Alice's eyes wandered around the room during a lull in conversation. She saw the flash of orange which reminded her of what she had forgotten earlier. She asked Naruto, "By the way, what's your favorite landmark?"

"The Hokage Mountain," Naruto said without any hesitation. "I'm going to get my face on it one of these days. Believe it."

"I see," Alice said. It wasn't what Alice would have selected, but it was a strong name. It suited her perfectly.

"Why do you ask?" Naruto asked.

Alice climbed to her feet and walked over to the puppet. She said, "I have a present for you." She picked up the puppet and started walking back to Naruto.

"She.. she's orange," Naruto said in amazement.

"Yes, she is. Her name is Hokage," Alice said. She had just been named a moment ago.

"Hokage. She can't be the Hokage," Naruto said. "Whoever heard of a girl Hokage? It's just isn't possible."

"She isn't the Hokage. She's named Hokage, for the mountain," Alice said.

"Okay..." Naruto said, "I guess..."

"You don't need to take her if you don't want to," Alice said. She could feel the disappointment from Hokage.

"No... yeah... I mean... yeah... thanks," Naruto fumbled out. "I'll treat her well too. Believe it."

"I'm counting on you," Alice said.

Naruto stayed around a bit longer before he needed to go. He was meeting one of his teachers for ramen for dinner. Alice half worried about having spoiled Naruto's appetite, but where ramen was concerned there was no chance of that. The boy seemed to have a second and maybe even a third stomach reserved just for ramen.

He left in much higher spirits than he had arrived.

Alice bid Naruto farewell before she returned back to her puppet crafting. There was a new avenue of research to tackle in her goal of creating a fully autonomous puppet and she was eager to pursue it. She expected she would forgo her usual luxury of sleep that evening in favor of thinking about it.

* * *

Naruto's next visit was much more surprising than his previous one. Alice had known Naruto would return again at some point, but she hadn't expected it to be so quickly. She only had about a minute of warning before Naruto called out to her at her front door. Much like the previous time he had visited, Naruto seemed to be in a foul mood. He seemed to be more upset than sullen this time.

"My team's terrible," Naruto said when the first opportunity presented itself.

"Your ninja team?" Alice took a guess.

"Yeah, my ninja team," Naruto answered.

"Who did you get teamed up with?" Alice asked. She and Naruto took a seat at a table while Shanghai brought out some tea for them. They hadn't fought a danmaku battle, but that didn't preclude sharing some tea while she listened to Naruto vent.

"There's three of them. There's the bastard first. Sasuke Uchiha," Naruto said. The name didn't mean anything to Alice. "He's a jerk who's way too arrogant. And he's really annoying. He says he only lives to kill somebody. Who lives like that?"

Alice shrugged but didn't say anything.

"There's Sakura Haruno, too," Naruto continued.

"That's that girl you like, right?" Alice asked. He had waxed poetic about her a while ago. In fact, Alice wouldn't have been surprised if he had named Sakura after her. However, now that she thought about it, Alice hadn't heard the name come up for quite some time outside of the puppet at Naruto's side.

"Kind of, but that's before I found out she was like everyone else. In the introductions she said she hated me, and she even made fun of me for Sakura and Hokage," Naruto said.

Alice already didn't like the girl.

"And there's our leader too. Kakashi. He's the worst one. He didn't even show up until way after everybody else left. He told us to tell him about us, but he wouldn't share anything with us," Naruto said.

"That's pretty rude," Alice said. Ignoring people and missing appointments was plain disrespectful. Overall it sounded like Naruto's entire team was quite terrible.

"And that's not the worst part. He tricked us to skip breakfast so he could make us starve for some survival test. I was hungry all morning. And then there was that stupid bell test. Kakashi totally beat us all up and tied me to a log," Naruto said. He got a weird look on his face and shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Then they left me there and walked away. All of them. I didn't even get to eat any lunch."

"They just left you there?"Alice asked. She wondered what she would do in that situation. Probably use some puppets to free herself. But what kind of people would just forget about somebody on their team? Even more, what kind of people tied somebody on their team up to a log and then forgot about him?

"Yeah. I had to use a shadow clone to get free," Naruto said.

"And this is supposed to be your team? Sorry," Alice said. She could only imagine what Naruto was going through. He had been trying to become a ninja for so long. Now that he had achieved it, it sounded like it was nothing at all like what he had been expecting. She hoped she didn't have the same experience when she achieved her dream of making a fully autonomous puppet.

"That's okay. I'm going to become Hokage, even if it means I have to carry this team all on my own. Believe it," Naruto said.

* * *

Last Updated: July 1, 2014


	6. 6: Finding Home

Chapter 6: Finding Home

The puppets Alice used for tea creation held a special place in her heart. Maybe not as much as Shanghai and the other named puppets, but they were some of the puppets she liked most. It was due in large part to the amount of care and attention they needed.

Processing tea was a difficult job. It was even more difficult for a puppet, considering the heat, the moisture, and the physical labor involved. Each and every one of the puppets tasked with tea processing wore heavy gloves and other protective gear, but they still received substantially more wear and tear than the average puppet who cleaned her house, watched the area for intruders, or did whatever other miscellaneous tasking Alice needed to have done. As a result, it meant that Alice had to perform more work on the tea processors to maintain them and ensure they stayed in a happy place. It would have been easy for their joints to swell up and seize, or for some mold to start growing unnoticed on them, or for any number of other problems to appear if Alice wasn't careful.

Alice's appreciation of the tea they prepared combined both with her familiarity of the puppets from her frequent contact with them as well as with the sympathy for the trying environment they worked in to result in her generally liking them more than the average puppet who sat along the shelves in her house.

The current phase of tea creation found the majority of the tea processing puppets withering the leaves in the warm sunlight outside. Alice took the opportunity to relax and watch them operate. They would take the freshly plucked tea leaves one at a time and deliberately place them out to dry. It was fun. It was like watching a well choreographed show put on just for her. It was like watching the operation of a miniature town. It was very much like playing house with a bunch of dolls, only much more sophisticated and with much more delicious outcomes.

Her introspection was interrupted when one of the sentry puppets spotted the approach of Naruto.

"I think we have company," Alice said to Shanghai.

Shanghai flew ahead, back towards the house to greet Naruto. Alice followed at a more leisurely pace. The puppets involved with the tea processing continued with their work, irrespective of her departure.

Alice heard Naruto before she saw him in person. He was saying, "I still don't understand why you like hanging." It was obvious to whom he was speaking.

Hourai had taken advantage of the perfect day just as much as Alice, Shanghai, and the tea processors had. She did so in a different way. She had migrated to a perch on the outside of the house to bask in a ray of sunshine.

At Naruto's prompt, Hourai started swinging back and forth in her noose. It wasn't a gentle swing, either. She swung as energetically and as hard as any child on a more traditional swing set trying to flip in a full circle over the crossbar above. It looked incredibly cute, albeit in a way substantially more morbid than a traditional swing set.

"You can do that sitting down, too!" Naruto protested.

Hourai continued to swing, ignoring Naruto's argument.

"It's just what she likes to do. There doesn't need to be a reason," Alice said. "I could just as easily ask you why you want to be a ninja."

"That's easy. I want to be a ninja so I'll be acknowledged," Naruto said.

"But there are other ways to get attention," Alice said. She thought about the various jobs she knew in light of Naruto's goal to be acknowledged. Everybody in Gensokyo knew of Aya Shameimaru and her Bunbunmaru Newspaper, and Naruto had at least as much energy and enthusiasm as The Traditional Reporter of Fantasy did. "You could be a reporter. You could start publishing Naruto Uzumaki Newspaper." Whirlpool Whirlpool Newspaper wasn't quite as catchy a name as Bunbunmaru Newspaper was, but it was still distinctive and easy to remember.

"That sounds boring. If I'm a ninja, I get do super cool missions," Naruto said.

"Like the ones you've been doing so far? I don't see how weeding gardens will get you acknowledged," Alice said. They were certainly good deeds, but they were also not the type of thing that really got that much attention from people.

"Yeah. Well... no... but this time we got a really super cool one," Naruto said.

"Like what? Building a fence?" Alice asked.

"No. We finally got a C-Rank mission. We're going to the Land of Waves," Naruto said.

"Land of Waves? What's that?" Alice asked.

"It's another country, to the south," Naruto said. "It's about a week away. Somebody hired us to escort him back to his village there."

"A week away? That far?" Alice asked. She was dumbfounded. She didn't think anywhere in Gensokyo was that far away. That was as far away as when Remilia and Reimu and everybody had invaded the moon. And Naruto acted like that distance was unremarkable. It was hard for Alice to imagine a world so large that that kind of distance could be treated so casually.

"I'm leaving tomorrow. That's why I came here today. I have this super cool awesome new technique. I can't wait that long to try it out," Naruto said.

Alice didn't need to be asked twice. In Gensokyo, Alice was rarely the one who started a danmaku battle, but she loved fighting them nonetheless.

Their danmaku battle was fairly standard. Naruto had improved a great deal since they had started years earlier. He had gotten to the point that he could consistently dodge spell cards like "White Sign 'Chalk-White Russian Dolls.'" He was far from perfect at it, but much more often than not he would escape unscathed, and usually with a couple of grazes too.

The commonality of the battle vanished when Naruto pulled out one of the scrolls he used for his seal skills. The timing was all off. It was too early in the battle for him to need to resupply. In a new twist, he threw the scroll high into the air. That took Alice by surprise. Despite the commonality of flying in Gensokyo, it seemed liked most danmaku battles were fought in what was effectively two dimensions. Going vertical was rather unusual.

"Seal Skill 'Awesome Mega Destruction.'"

The scroll in the air burst into a large cloud of smoke. Rocks came pelting down in all directions.

Alice's eyes darted around in search of a gap, but she saw none which were large enough for her to dodge through. She flew backward to try to get a bit more time to analyze and let the projectiles disperse a bit more, but it was no good. She got pelted several times by the falling debris.

She looked over at Naruto with some amount of admiration. This quickly turned to fury as she noticed he was shrugging off the scattered pellets as well. It wasn't an issue of injury. Each stone plinked with barely enough force to maybe leave a bruise. It was more an issue of principle. He had broken the spell card system. Knowingly or not, Naruto had cheated.

Alice had assumed at first that Naruto had developed a clever new attack. She didn't recognize any pattern within the seal skill, but Alice's own first spell cards had been clumsy as well. With Naruto being pelted just as much as she had, though, Alice realized that her initial assessment of the attack as being impossible to dodge through hadn't just been a bad assessment in the heat of the moment; it really was impossible to dodge through.

"What was that!" Alice shouted. She tried to quell her anger and be patient.

"Like it? It's my new ultimate attack," Naruto said.

"And how is somebody supposed to dodge it?" Alice asked.

"They aren't," Naruto boasted. "It supposed to be a super awesome unbeatable attack."

Alice tried to keep her temper. She said, "That's not the point of danmaku. You're supposed to make beautiful patterns that skilled people can get around. To do anything else is unfair and defeats the purpose of the game."

"Why's that? If I can win then I'm going to do it. I'm the best. Believe it," Naruto said.

Alice gave up. It would only work if she demonstrated. She said, "Okay. Let's have a rematch."

"Yeah," Naruto said. "I'm going to beat you again."

Only a moment after the next match started, Alice pointed her hand at Naruto and sent a laser beam straight at him. It hit him square in the chest and caused him to stagger. She announced, "I win. Rematch?"

"Yeah," Naruto said.

It was an exact repeat of before. Naruto was fast, but there was no way to dodge Alice's almost instantaneous laser.

"Again?" Alice offered.

"Sure," Naruto said. He sounded more hesitant than before.

Alice shot him with another laser right at the start yet again. The three rounds had taken less time than the first volley of a real game of danmaku.

"Now do you get it? It's not very fun, is it? That's why danmaku was created, so that even the weakest youkai could have a level playing field against the most powerful ones," Alice said.

"But that's makes no sense. In a fight you need to do everything you can to win," Naruto said.

"Danmaku isn't a fight. If I fought for real against somebody, we would probably destroy the whole forest," Alice said. She might even need to go all out in that case, and she had no desire to do that. Throwing around raw power was just not fun. She rather preferred danmaku, where she could keep a little in reserve, safe in the knowledge that the worst that could happen was that she lose the game.

Naruto was looking dejected by this point. Alice tried to console him.

"Your attack might not be good for danmaku, but it's pretty good for a real fight," Alice said. It would probably need something more dangerous than some river rocks, but she had seen several things which could qualify in this outside world. Some kunai or those exploding things would severely increase the danger of the technique, both for the target as well as for the user of the seal skill.

"I'm sorry," Naruto said.

"That's okay. Let's have some tea and we can talk about how to make you a good attack for danmaku," Alice said.

The battle had been weird, but that was no reason to not enjoy a cup of tea afterwards.

* * *

Alice had never really understood Naruto's excitement and yearning to be acknowledged, but she knew he had it. It was likely his nature.

Youkai had things which defined them as being youkai. It was why Remilia had only forbidden youkai from eating the humans in the Human Village but had said nothing about annoying, terrifying, and attacking them. If youkai stopped being youkai, then they would lose the meaning of their existence and no longer be youkai. If Patchouli Knowledge stopped spending all of her time in the library, she would no longer be Patchouli. If Suwako Moriya was no longer believed to be a goddess, she would no longer be a goddess. And it seemed like if Naruto stopped being the forefront of attention, he would no longer be Naruto. It seemed like his ability was getting noticed.

Naruto was probably well on his way to that Land of Waves he had been so excited about. It had been a few days since he had last visited. One thing Alice was certain of, though, was that Naruto was in the center of events wherever he was. He might be in the middle of a brand new country, but a little thing like that wouldn't stop Naruto.

While Naruto had been gone Alice had spent a lot of time thinking.

Thus far she had spent her entire time in this outside world thinking it was like Gensokyo. There was the magic, which they called jutsu. There was the human village, more like a city. There were the mountains, some of which had faces carved in it. Overall she pictured it as a relatively small and self-contained place.

Now that Naruto had mentioned an entirely new territory, even an entirely different human village several days away, that mental picture of this outside world had been shattered. It wasn't at all like Gensokyo. This outside world was huge. It was so far outside of Alice's experiences that she had a hard time comprehending it all.

"Can you believe it? There's an entire bigger world out there, with other cities and everything," Alice said to Shanghai. "This outside world is quite a place, isn't it."

Shanghai nodded back. Hourai was listening too as she hung from her favorite noose at the side of the room.

"I think maybe we should go. Who knows what we'll find out there? Maybe we'll find some other youkai. Maybe we'll find some other magicians," Alice said.

Shanghai pointed over at one particular puppet. It was the puppet Alice had created with the expectation that she would lead them back to Gensokyo. Alice agreed, "That too. Maybe we can find something to power Shimon."

"And maybe I can find out more about that Shadow Clone technique. Or maybe something better to make some fully autonomous puppets. If this outside world is that big then there needs to be something out there, right?" Alice asked.

Shanghai nodded again. Hourai also gave a wave of encouragement.

"On the other hand, we would be leaving all this behind. No more bed. No more food. No more tea," Alice said. She could bring some supplies with her, but if the world was as large as Naruto had said then there was no way she could bring enough with her to last. It would be inevitable that she run out at some point.

Shanghai floated behind Alice and patted her back in consolation and sympathy.

"You're right. If I'm going to be stuck in this outside world then there's no reason to miss this opportunity," Alice said.

Shanghai raised her arm in a cheer of agreement. Hourai looked supportive as well, albeit not as energetically. It wasn't hard to imagine why. Leaving meant that Hourai would lose her favorite perch, but that was like Alice losing her bed. It would be a disappointment and it would be somewhat annoying, but ultimately it shouldn't signify that much.

Several of the other unnamed puppets reacted to Alice's decision as well. They ranged from enthusiastic approval to resigned encouragement. She could and would bring several of them with her, but there was no way she could be able to bring them all.

"So we wait until Naruto comes back and tell him then?" Alice asked. She was tempted to leave immediately, but she could only imagine his reaction on his next visit if she was just gone.

All of the various puppets around her supported her decision.

"But there's no reason to not start getting ready. Let's get packing," Alice said.

Shanghai gave another cheer of support, and Hourai let herself out of her noose to help direct the multitude of puppets and their frenzy of activity all around the house.

* * *

It had been close to a month since Naruto had last visited. It had been far too long, considering the trip of Naruto's had been planned to be two weeks. Alice expected Naruto to have visited after maybe three weeks or so at most. It was in his nature to want to brag about his latest adventure, and she was sure he would visit her within days of returning.

Maybe something had happened during his mission. He had said it was C-Rank one. She wasn't sure what that meant, but it did sound serious.

Alice tried to not worry.

She was all packed. Everything important she would be bringing with her was ready to go. The last thing needed to do was bid her goodbyes to Naruto, and then she would be off.

There was one nice effect of the limited amount of stuff she could bring with her. Most of her things, including her furniture, kitchen supplies, garden, and everything else, were still unpacked. It let her continue on with her life as semi-normal, even as she was ready to leave at a moment's notice. She still had her garden tended, her meals cooked, and her tea prepared.

But it just wasn't the same.

Alice knew she would be abandoning her home some time within the next two months, so it all felt a bit pointless. Two months was her time limit. It was more than enough time. Alice figured if Naruto hadn't returned in two months then he would be gone, possibly for good. She would write a note explaining what had happened, but she would otherwise just leave.

In addition to her garden and her tea, Alice's sentries were still set up. This meant she did have some warning when her waiting came to an end. About 30 seconds of warning. Naruto came storming into the clearing and up to her house.

Alice barely had time to give a greeting, and had no chance at all to mention her plans to leave, before Naruto growled out, "You. Me. Danmaku. Now."

Without waiting for a response, Naruto threw a rock at her. He threw it extremely forcefully. It was all Alice could do to get out of the way. It was a reflexive action. Countless years of practice served her well.

Shanghai quickly left the arena and flew into an out of the way observation point.

The danmaku battle was unusual. Naruto was much more aggressive than normal. He threw each of his projectiles violently. It made them noticeably faster than usual, but it also much his aim much worse than usual. The two effects combined to result in making it a bit harder to dodge overall.

Alice could tell that Naruto had been frustrated when he had entered her clearing, and the continued game was only making him more so. She decided that she would let Naruto win this one to see if it would help. She waited for one of Naruto's better set up attack combinations before she dodged left, right, and then just missed the follow up and got hit. The pellet stung fiercely.

"Nice shot," she said.

Naruto gave a growl of frustration and then threw a handful of rocks into a nearby tree. They impacted with a loud thunk and left deep divots embedded in the wood.

"I take it the mission didn't go well?" Alice asked.

"No. We completed it successfully. We escorted the bridge builder home and protected him while he finished the bridge. We killed a rogue ninja, and saved the village from an evil merchant. Mission accomplished," Naruto bit out.

"That's good, right?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, that's good," Naruto snapped out.

"Then what's wrong?" Alice asked.

"What's wrong is that nobody in Konoha seems to care at all. What do I need to do to get somebody to acknowledge me? We save a village, and nobody notices. A bunch of beginner ninja finish a B-Rank mission, and nobody notices. We kill a rogue ninja listed in the bingo books, and nobody notices. The only people who care are the other ninja, and they're obsessed over Sasuke. He almost gets himself killed, and everybody's falling over themselves because he's the last of the Uchiha clan. I save everybody and nobody cares, just because I got a youkai sealed inside of me," Naruto said.

"Wait. What? You have a youkai sealed inside of you? They sealed a youkai inside another youkai?" Alice asked. It sounded a bit crazy, but stranger things had happened before.

"No. It turns out I'm not a youkai. I'm human," Naruto said.

Alice was even more disbelieving of Naruto then when he had said he was a youkai in the first place. She might have, and in fact had, overlooked Naruto's youkai presence at first, but there was no way she had mistaken the inhuman presence she had since detected from him.

But the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Naruto's youkai presence was minuscule. It was far less than even a weak youkai who was only a few years old. She had already made the analogy to the youkai sealed in scrolls and books. What was the difference if the youkai was sealed in a human? Never mind that it was impossible; it was equally impossible to seal a youkai but have the youkai walking around at the same time.

"How did you find that out?" Alice asked.

"I met him. Inside here," Naruto said. He lifted up his shirt to show the lines and swirls drawn in a complex pattern on his stomach. Alice couldn't make heads or tails of it, but it did vaguely remind her of the seal skill scrolls Naruto used in danmaku. "He's like a giant fox with nine tales. He says he can level mountains and make tsunami, and he doesn't hide his power like you do. He's intense, but he's still way better than most of the humans I know. Are all youkai like that?"

Alice's head was spinning. The series of revelations was too much for her. She needed time to digest it all, possibly with the assistance of a nice cup of tea. She said, "Wait, wait. Back up. Why don't you start from the beginning?" She led him into her house. Some puppets had already put some water to boil and were searching the pantry for some suitable snacks.

"The mission started real easy. Tazuna, he was our escort, was a bit jerk. But things started to go bad right at the beginning, when we got attacked by some ninja on the way there," Naruto started his story.

Naruto proceeded to spin a tale which was as exciting as any Incident Alice knew of. Two ninja had attacked and killed Kakashi, which had terrified Naruto and the other members of his team. They managed to fight off the ninja, only to find out that Kakashi was still alive and had tricked them all.

That had been the first indication the mission was not a simple escort. There was a wealthy merchant named Gato who was trying to have Tazuna killed to prevent him from building a giant bridge which would threaten his business. Despite that, Naruto and the group had proceeded on. They neared the village Tazuna was trying to reach. That's when Zabuza, the rogue ninja Naruto had mentioned earlier, showed up. He had been hired by Gato to kill Tazuna. The rogue ninja had captured Kakashi, which was no small task and which showed how dangerous he was.

"That's when I pulled out that that 'Seal Skill "Awesome Mega Destruction -Ninja-,"'" Naruto said.

As Naruto spoke, some puppets served some tea to him and Alice. Naruto barely noticed at all. The cup in front of him remained practically untouched as it slowly cooled to room temperature.

"That's that scroll attack you used before you left, right?" Alice asked. She sipped at her tea, but she was more engrossed with the wild adventure Naruto was describing.

"Yeah, that's right," Naruto said.

"What's that '-Ninja-' in its name mean?" Alice asked. She knew "-Easy-" and "-Hard-", and sometimes "-Lunatic-" for the most extreme versions of spell cards. She had never heard of a "-Ninja-" modifier before.

"I made it much more dangerous, for real fights. I put in extra explosive tags, and some kunai, and used sharper rocks and stuff," Naruto said.

Alice considered the safety behind that. If Naruto mixed up his seal scrolls in the middle of a danmaku battle then the results could be quite dangerous. On the other hand, Alice as relatively sure that Naruto wouldn't be using that particular seal scroll in a danmaku battle again after the discussion they had had. She decided to let it go for now and instead asked, "So what happened?"

"It worked great. Believe it. It didn't hurt him very much, but it made him drop his water prison and let Kakashi go," Naruto said. He was talking with more enthusiasm now. He was obviously feeling better too. Tea and cake always made people feel better, although Naruto focused more on the cake than the tea.

Naruto continued weaving his story. Another masked ninja named Haku showed up to supposedly kill Zabuza. In actuality he had been an ally who came to save the ninja, but they hadn't known that at the time. After he was out of sight, Kakashi had suffered something caused chakra exhaustion. Whatever it was, it had disabled their instructor for a few days.

They had spent the next few days training. Apparently Naruto could climb up trees now. It was nothing like flying, but it was a start. In between their training sessions, the team had learned about the village and had protected Tazuna while he worked on his bridge. Naruto had also met several interesting people, including Haku in civilian form and an annoying kid name Inari.

Things reached a climax when the bridge was almost completed. Zabuza and a masked Haku, attacked their group. Zabuza re-fought Kakashi, which left Haku for Naruto and his fellow beginner ninja to confront.

"So then Haku trapped Sasuke into this big dome of ice. He was surrounded and getting all beaten up. I tried to break him out, but my 'Seal Skill "Awesome Mega Destruction -Ninja-"' didn't do anything. Sasuke kept getting hit. Eventually that bastard takes too much and gets knocked out," Naruto said.

"So what did you do?" Alice asked.

"What else could I do? Those mirrors took everything I had. I had tried my fuinjutsu, but it wasn't strong enough to break through. I'll need more explosive tags next time. Anyway, Sasuke's bleeding everywhere," Naruto said. "That's when it happened. Next thing I knew, I was in this giant tunnel."

"You went from a field to a tunnel?" Alice asked.

"That's what I was wondering. I started running around until I found this giant gate, and this huge fox-thing behind it," Naruto said. "That's when I found out about that demon sealed inside me. He told me that really he was the one who attacked Konoha, and how he's all sealed up inside of me. And he was huge. That reminds me. He told me to tell you that he's totally stronger than you."

"Okay," Alice said. She wasn't fazed in the least by the challenge. She knew she wasn't the strongest person out there. She didn't need to be, and she didn't want to be.

"You don't want to fight him for it?" Naruto asked.

"Not really. If he wants the title of strongest then he could have it," Alice said. Nobody in Gensokyo was really that concerned with relative power levels, except for a certain ice fairy. The cautionary tale that that 9-ball represented was enough for everybody else to realize the idiocy of trying to claim that unique title outside of specific fields. If the youkai within Naruto had tried to claim he was a better puppeteer than Alice then she would have been forced to prove otherwise, but if he just wanted the title of being the strongest then Alice didn't care.

"Okay," Naruto said, confused. "Anyway, he loans me some of his power. It was amazing. I was able to block all of Haku's needles like you do when you use your spell cards just by shouting. I felt like I could cause an earthquake just by jumping. I broke the ice prison like it was nothing."

"Impressive," Alice said. She looked down and noticed that one of the puppets had dutifully refilled her cup.

The rest of the story completed in short order. Naruto defeated Haku, only to find out that he was the boy Naruto had met earlier. Kakashi and Zabazu finished their fight. Gato betrayed the rogue ninja and hired some mercenaries to kill Zabazu and Haku. Zabuza had a heroic stand to avenge the death of Haku. The bridge was completed. The town's fighting spirit was revived. The townspeople rallied to fight off the last of the mercenaries.

Ultimately the mission was successful completed.

"When I got back to Konoha, I was expecting... I don't know what I was expecting. A parade for us. People to come and ask if it was real. Just a thank you for a job well done. But none of that happened. It was just like before we left. Most of the stores refuse to even sell me anything. What good is the money I get from the missions if I can't even buy anything?" Naruto asked.

"I don't know," Alice said.

"But they're just civilians, I think, right? They don't know what ninja really do. But it's the ninja too. The other rookies, and even the higher ups. They don't care either. They all still ignore me, except when they want to ask one of 'Sasuke's teammates' how he's doing, or if it's true he unlocked his family's special powers, or to say how we were so lucky to have him there to finish the mission. All he did was almost get himself killed, but just because he's the last of the Uchiha clan everybody's falling over themselves to treat him like a hero. I bet if I was the son of somebody famous they'd acknowledge me too. But I'm not. I just got this youkai in me so nobody will ever care about me. How's that fair?" Naruto asked.

"That sounds bad," Alice said. She thought for a few seconds before coming to a conclusion. "You know, I was actually waiting to tell you something."

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"I was planning on leaving here for a while. You said that this world is pretty big, and it got me thinking. I want to explore it and see what else I can find," Alice said. Before Naruto could repeat the protestations he had had before she had left Konoha, she added, "But I was thinking. You could come too. You said that the people in Konoha all hate you, right? Why don't you leave too? Maybe you'll have more luck in a new place where nobody knows about you and the demon. You can just be Naruto."

"I can't do that," Naruto said. "I'm a ninja. I can't just go missing."

"You said you're just a beginner, right? How much trouble would they give a beginner?" Alice asked.

"Yeah," Naruto said slowly. More enthusiastically, he said, "And even if they did add me to the missing ninja list, I'd get to have my super cool official picture in all the bingo books. That'd be awesome."

"That's right. Maybe you can find a new home and maybe I can find a way to create some fully autonomous puppets like I've been dreaming about. Or maybe I can find a way to get home, too," Alice said.

Alice abruptly froze. At the thought of returning to Gensokyo, an idea just struck her. A big one at that. It was so obvious that she wasn't sure why it had taken her so long to make the connection.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked.

"Wait a second. Go back a bit. Back when you were fighting in the Land of Waves, you said that that demon inside you lent you some of his power, right?" Alice asked.

"Yeah. He did. Believe it," Naruto said.

"I believe you," Alice said. "And how strong is he? You said he says he's way stronger than me, right? How much power does he have?"

"I don't know. A lot," Naruto said. "He said he only gave me a bit of it, but I broke through that ice real easy and could block all those flying needles just by shouting. He said he was strong enough level mountains and raise tsunami."

"That actually may be enough," Alice mused. "Can you do it again?"

"Maybe. I'd have to ask him," Naruto said. "Why?"

Alice pulled out Shimon. The puppet was fairly ordinary except for two things. The first was her slightly small stature. The second was the large drill she carried in her hand.

"Remember I was telling you about me trying to get home?" Alice asked.

"Yeah. That Land of Fantasy place. That's the place full of youkai where everybody is so strong that they can destroy villages, right?" Naruto asked.

"That's right. This here is Shimon. I think she can actually help me get there, but I haven't been able to find anything strong enough to power her to break the barrier surrounding Gensokyo," Alice said.

"Okay. Uhh... nice to meet you, Shimon?" Naruto asked.

"No, not that. You said that demon inside of you is strong, right? If he's as strong as he says he is then he might be strong enough to power Shimon and open a gap to Gensokyo," Alice said.

"I guess I can ask," Naruto said. "But what if she succeeds. That means you'll be leaving for good, right?"

"That's right," Alice said.

"You said that youkai are common there, right? Nobody will think anything weird about a demon or a human with a demon sealed inside him?" Naruto asked.

"That's right. I know a lot of demons. And we have people like a half-ghost swordswoman and an immortal princess of the moon. A boy with a demon sealed inside him is downright ordinary," Alice said.

Naruto asked, "And nobody tries to," he paused for a moment, "control the demons to do things and stuff?"

"No," Alice said.

Naruto thought through it. He asked, "Do they have ramen there?"

"Yes, they have ramen there," Alice answered. She had to suppress a laugh at the question.

"Then I'm coming too," Naruto said. "I was about to leave for another country, but if I'm going to leave then I'm going to make it the biggest, most amazing leaving ever. Naruto doesn't do things in half-measures. Believe it. So what do you need me to do?"

"Do you need to get anything before we leave?" Alice asked.

"I have Sakura and Hokage here. I don't need anything else," Naruto said.

"Okay. First you talk to that demon and see if he's willing to help," Alice said.

"I already did. He was the one asking about the demons in Gensokyo," Naruto said.

"Okay," Alice said. She didn't know when Naruto could have done the asking. She hadn't seen him move or anything. Still, he had no reason to lie, and if he was lying then she would find out soon enough. She continued, "In that case wait here. I need to set Shimon up. It'll just take a second."

The problem of piercing the barrier to Gensokyo was two-fold. Beyond the issue of raw power, which she might have just found a solution for, there was also the question of direction. Gensokyo wasn't in any traditional direction. All the power in the world would do no good if it wasn't properly applied. But Alice had already long solved that problem. She cast the spell she needed to locate the various puppets she crafted. In addition to the collection in her house and the scattered puppets around Konoha, the concentrated collection of them out but not up was still present. She used that beacon to appropriately position Shimon.

"She's all ready. All we need to do now is give her the power she needs. I'll be doing what I can but the bulk is going to be on you two, okay?" Alice asked.

"Okay. No problem. I can handle it. Believe it," Naruto said. "Here I go."

Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then right in front of Alice's eyes, Naruto started to glow. It was a fierce, violent, red glow. It was enough to cause her to flinch away, but she forced herself to stand her ground as he approached. Alice contributed what she could to Shimon, but most of her energy was focused only on directing her.

The red energy blasted into Shimon, and the drill in her hands started to spin at a mystic speed. It grew faster and faster. Long after Alice herself would have been spent, Naruto kept going, pumping more and more energy into Shimon with no sign of slowing down. It was enough to give Alice hope that it would actually work.

The red aura surrounding Naruto grew brighter and stronger as he continued. A couple of more defined tendrils started to appear and flail around like giant whips.

"Let's go, Shimon," Alice cheered the puppet on.

Responding to both her words and the magical control Alice still maintained, Shimon jabbed her drill into the air in front. It impacted something impossible to see, impossible to touch, impossible to even sense, but still very present. It would have been impossible to interact with except that Alice had known exactly where it was.

Shimon pressed forward into the seam of reality, even as the strain grew impossibly large for her, for Alice, and for Naruto. The drill crept slower than a snail's pace, bit by bit, fiercely fighting for each iota of progress.

With a burst of effort, Shimon broke through.

The pressure from the barrier decreased from impossible to merely unbearable. Alice couldn't see anything yet, but she just knew that she was through to her home in Gensokyo.

"Shanghai. Hourai. Leave everything and come on. We're going through," Alice called out. The two puppets dropped the bags they had been trying to collect and clutched onto Alice's arms.

The gap Shimon had created was growing larger. Alice could now see through it to the dusty room surrounded by puppets that was her home in Gensokyo. In a few more moments it would be large enough to cross through.

"This is it, Naruto. Last chance to change your mind," Alice said.

"Let's go," Naruto said.

And with that, Alice and Naruto pushed behind Shimon and vanished into the gap.

Moments later the gap in space disappeared, taking with it the last trace of the Show-Off Number One Unpredictable Noisy Ninja and the Seven-Colored Puppeteer in the Land of Fire.

* * *

Authors Notes:

It would seem like Konoha is in a bit of a predicament, now that Naruto is no longer around to protect it. I'd guess that the Allied Shinobi Forces could be in trouble too, for the exact same reason. Then again, the Eye of the Moon Plan isn't looking too healthy either. Overall, I think it's fair to say that the Naruto canon plot is thoroughly derailed at this point.

But that's no longer Naruto's or Alice's problem. They are gone and they aren't coming back. Unless they have a change of heart. Or if the ninja of the Naruto universe breaking the space-time barrier. Or if Yukari Yakumo has some designs. Or... Well, it's possible that it really could become Naruto's and Alice's problem rather quickly.

This story was a bit odd for me in that it is the most branching one I've written yet. In almost every chapter I could see a "little" change which would have completely changed the entire plot. Alice could have joined the Konoha ninja. Naruto could have decided to learn puppetry. Alice and Naruto could have merely left the Land of Fire rather than have found a way to Gensokyo. I have no doubt there are at least five other very viable stories which could have been written based on this exact same starting point.

It might be hard to believe, but this story actually began as a Touhou-Harry Potter crossover. It's changed so much by now that almost all of the vestiges of the Harry Potter are gone, but that is its origins. About the only traces I still see remaining of that original crossover are the same problems which had prevented me from writing that crossover to begin with, albeit much less pronounced in this particular manifestation.

The first problem is the issue of point of view. If I want to keep things limited to Alice's point of view then there are several things which happen in the background which the reader simply can't see occurring. In my Touhou-Harry Potter idea that would have been an overwhelming number of things. Here it is merely a noticeable amount. It's an unfortunate side effect of the point of view I used when writing this.

The second problem is the issue of timing. The setting of this story is very precise. I would have loved to have gone further in the general plot, but this is about the latest in the Naruto canon I thought I could go and still see Naruto legitimately getting fed up with being mistreated and being willing to leave. Konoha isn't in the middle of a war, so Naruto won't feel obligated as such to stay around and try to protect it. The village and the various ninja are still completely neglecting him, so he is more willing to leave them behind in a really big way. It would have been fun to have continued further to the chunin exam and beyond, but given the expansive and growing world of Naruto I don't think it's really practical to explore the entire universe. Moreover, I expect that the story would have just stopped in an abandoned state if I had tried. I definitely feel having an ending is better than just stopping, and this is one of the few endings I could envision.

Speaking of which, that's another story complete. I love the feeling of being able to mark a story as "complete," even if it is a bit bittersweet as well. It's hard to put into words. There is one thing I know for sure, though. I had a great deal of fun writing this. Thank you for sticking around, and I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much.

* * *

Temporary Omake:

Naruto was in trouble. Not from the masked ninja. In a straight up fight, Naruto would have won. He could have dodged the senbon he was throwing without issue. They was far easier that the numerous spell scrolls that he faced from Alice so frequently.

The problem was with his teammate. Sasuke was not nearly in as good a shape. He was unconscious and bleeding out. If Sasuke wasn't dead, he would likely be soon. Senbon weren't that deadly, but when struck a few dozen times, even small things got dangerous.

Kurama was torn. Humans everywhere wanted to control the power of the biju. They only looked at them as weapons to dominate and control. The ninja of Konoha were especially bad. They were the ones who had sealed him so long ago. They were the ones who kept him trapped.

But this Naruto was different. His interactions with that piddly, tiny, youkai showed none of that. It was beneath contempt to compare that tea-obsessed youkai with himself, but she was a youkai. And Naruto hadn't shown any sort of sign of trying to control her, or take advantage of her, or anything.

It was enough. Maybe. Kurama would test the waters. Maybe he could work with Naruto. Maybe his unknowing and unwilling jail-keeper was different. Maybe.

Kurama pulled Naruto into the strange non-space of the seal.

The boy bewilderedly looked around before he started running. The direction didn't matter. All paths in the seal led to Kurama eventually.

"Ahahahaha! At last we meet face-to-face," Kurama said to Naruto.

"Who are you? What are you?" Naruto asked. He showed no sign of intimidation despite being an in unfamiliar area and the massive size of Kurama. The fox-demon was hunched over but he was still several times taller than Naruto. Even each of his nine long whipping tails was larger than Naruto.

"You don't know, do you? Let me tell you a secret," the Kurama said. He brought his head forward until he was right next to the gate. Naruto approached as well. "I'm the demon who attacked Konoha!"

"You're a youkai too? Like me?" Naruto asked.

"You fool! You aren't a demon, no matter what all fools of humans think. You're human," the demon said. He had known the speculations of Alice after she had discovered him. The grandeur of Kurama couldn't be blocked with a mere seal. Her interpretation was reasonable enough, if thoroughly wrong.

"But you're like Alice? That's great! You're the only other youkai I've met besides her. Wait until I tell her there's another one of you out there," Naruto said. "Want to have a danmaku battle? Do you have any tea around here?"

"I'm not just a youkai, I'm the great nine-tailed demon! I can level mountains. I can raise tsunami. I am the strongest of them all. When you get out there, tell that tea-obsessed youkai that," Kurama said.

"Out there? Where is this?" Naruto asked.

"We're inside the seal on your belly, but you aren't asking the important thing. You're teammate is going to die. How are you going to save him?" Kurama asked. It was the crux of the situation, and the reason Kurama had brought Naruto into the seal.

"No! That bastard. I need to get out there and save him," Naruto said. He frantically looked around for an exit.

"Ahahaha! What do you think you'll do out there? You can't beat that ninja," Kurama said.

"I'll figure something out. Believe it," Naruto said. And Kurama actually believed it. He had watched as Naruto had pulled off too many implausible things in the past to simply dismiss his boasting.

"There is another way," Kurama said.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"I'll lend you some of my power. Consider it a test," Kurama said. "I'll be watching."

He release some of his chakra bleed out of the cage like a living shadow into Naruto.

* * *

Life for the three genin under Kakashi's command had been rough after the Land of Waves. It was to be expected. As far as Kakashi knew, it was the first time the three of them had been forced to kill. The first time was always painful, and that wasn't counting the tragedy of Haku and Zabuza.

They had spent a couple of weeks in the Land of Waves before returning to Konoha. This served several purposes. It gave Kakashi and especially Sasuke a chance to recover from their injuries. The Land of Waves was by no means a hostile nation, but traveling any sort of distance while hurt was just asking for trouble. The break also allowed Kakashi to arrange a small funeral for Haku and Zabuza. He wasn't sure how much it helped for the three genin, but it was all he could do.

The trip back to Konoha and the days after returning did little to improve things. Everybody put on a brave front, but underneath it all Kakashi could see the hurt. It made him worry for them.

Sasuke was the one Kakashi was most worried about. So much of his character was built on being the prodigy rookie of the year, and being the last Uchiha. He was brilliant, but Haku was far more experienced. Sasuke had performed better than any genin who wasn't a jinchuiki could be expected to, but it hadn't been enough.

Sakura was the next most worrisome student. Her civilian background left her more sheltered than Sasuke. Beyond being the first time she had killed, it was the first time she had even encountered death. Academically she was top class, but her practical application was far less advanced. Between that and her crush of Sasuke being so injured left her in a perilous state.

It would have been a toss up between Sakura and Naruto for the number two position on Kakashi's worry list, except Naruto seemed basically unfazed by the events in the Land of Waves. If anything, the death of Haku and Zabuza only served to make him more determined. He had given an impassioned speech during the funeral condemning the world which treated the ninja like disposable tools. It was a optimistic sentiment and one worthy of the Hokage. Kakashi was still worried for him, but it was overshadowed by his worry for Sakura, and in turn for Sasuke.

When they returned to Konoha, Kakashi treated each of the three in order. Sasuke required the most attention. Unlike Sakura, Sasuke had no family to assist him. Kakashi made sure to watch the boy, both overtly and covertly. It was a tricky line to walk. He had to support Sasuke and bolster his self-esteem, but not get so close as to smother the boy or get pushed away. A couple of chance comments to some curious ninja could help with that, but he would need to be careful.

Sakura was somewhat easier, for the short term. Kakashi left her to return to her family. He would need to check on from time to time, but a loving mother and father would do a lot to help Sakura recover. It would have been much better if they had been ninja too so Sakura could really unburden herself, but civilian family was far better than no family. As far as an immediate need, they would do. Kakashi still needed to check up on her from time to time, but not to the same extent as Sasuke.

Which left Naruto. The physically and emotionally resilient boy. Kakashi was far from confident that he was coping, but the boy could fend for himself for a few days. He would need to. Kakashi had his hands full with Sasuke, Sakura, and then the bureaucracy after the fight.

Kakashi's abbreviated check on Sakura from the shadows showed her to be doing well. He planned on checking in with her in person in the next day or two to make sure.

The check with Sasuke was more prolonged. He was improving as well. Kakashi planned to be "stumbled across" by the boy at some point later in the day just in case, but in the meantime he was doing as well as could be expected.

What really worried Kakashi was when he went to check on Naruto for the first time since returning to Konoha. He wasn't at his apartment, or at the academy. Iruka had suggested that Kakashi check Ramen Ichiraku and the Hokage Monument, but Naruto wasn't to be found there, either. It had only been a few days, and the boy couldn't have gotten into that much trouble. He had even stopped pranking.

Kakashi re-reviewed his last thought. That was a problem. His worry spiked, not that any trace of that was visible to his apparently lazy bearing..

There was an easy way to handle things.

"Yo, boss," Pakkun said after Kakashi had summoned him. They stood inside Naruto's apartment.

"I need you to track where the boy who lives here went," Kakashi said.

"Sure thing, boss," Pakkun said. And they were off.

Despite small pug's diminutive size, he was fast. Faster than a civilian at any rate. That combined well with his acute sense of smell to rapidly locate fleeing targets.

The jumped around from rooftop to rooftop. And then down to street level. The path was semi-erratic. They went into a quiet alley.

"The trail ends here," Pakkun said.

"Where? Is there a passage or something?" Kakashi asked. He automatically started searching the walls, the floor, and the sky for signs that anything was amiss.

"Nope, just ends here," Pakkun said.

Kakashi thought about it. He asked, "Do you smell anybody else? Maybe a woman?" Naruto had shown a great deal of proficiency with henge jutsu. Kakashi wanted to make no assumptions.

"Yeah. There is one," Pakkun said.

"Follow that one. I think it's Naruto," Kakashi said.

The continued on, strictly on the ground now, into the main thoroughfares and into the busy crowds of Konoha. He had the utmost confidence in Pakkun despite that. There was a reason Kakashi used him so frequently to track.

They neared one of the gates of Konoha. In the past, during the Second Great Shinobi War, the gate would have been shut against all intruders. In this time of peace, the opening was rarely even guarded. It was a great thing. It was the job of the ninja, plus the samurai and everybody else, to maintain that peace. However it was also very inconvenient. It meant that Konoha's jinchuiki could leave without even being challenged.

They were well out of sight of Konoha when Pakkun said, "The woman vanished and the boy's back again."

"Do you smell anybody else?" Kakashi asked.

"No, boss," Pakkun said.

That was a relief at least. It appeared that Naruto was acting on his own volition. If he had been kidnapped or otherwise taken by force, it would have been a very bad situation.

"After him," Kakashi said.

They took to the air again, this time jumping from treetop to treetop.

Kakashi was more leading now with Pakkun providing validation of the path. The high trees didn't carry very much smell, but it was far easier for Kakashi to track by sight than in the featureless Konoha streets. There would be broken leaves, or footprints, or other small traces of where Naruto had passed. They were difficult to spot. Naruto was good. But Kakashi was better.

It was a long trip. It gave plenty of time for Kakashi to worry about what had happened. Naruto didn't appear to be under duress, but he was also outside of Konoha. True he wasn't on a mission so technically he could go anywhere within the Land of Fire he wanted to, but as a general rule ninja never left Konoha without reason.

"Tsss," Kakashi hissed to Pakkun, drawing the dog to a halt.

Up ahead Kakashi saw something which stood out to his discerning eyes searching for clues. Up on one of the trees was what appeared to be something like a large bird feeder or something. It was designed like a mini-sentry tower. It had a roof and was square-ish shaped, with a fence surrounding it. Within it, and much more ominously, some puppets had been set up. They were positioned with their hands over their foreheads as if to block the sun, and they scanning the horizon back and forth.

"Naruto went that way?" Kakashi asked.

"Yeah, boss," Pakkun confirmed.

Kakashi's worry spiked. There was only one unknown puppet user in Konoha's recent past. It had been assumed that that S-Class ninja had fled the Land of Fire. It appeared that this assumption might have been in error. The assumption that Naruto was acting on his own was in question too. A master of genjutsu could get a person to do almost anything.

It was enough for Kakashi to take precautions. He summoned Akino and instructed him to go back to the Hokage with a warning message. In the meantime, time was at a premium. Kakashi pressed on regardless.

"Let's go around. Keep your eyes open for any other guards," Kakashi said.

He led Pakkun as they gave the guard tower a wide berth. As he traveled he kept his eyes peeled looking for other guards. And it was a good thing. There was another one in short sight. And another. They overlapped fairly closely making it difficult for somebody to find a hole in the sight lines. They formed a rough circle. Some quick calculations suggested that the center of it wasn't too much further beyond. If Kakashi could get past the line then there was a strong chance that Kakashi would find Naruto just behind.

Kakashi kept circling until he reached a cliff face. It would have been daunting to climb for a civilian. For a ninja, it was trivial. He pooled some chakra into his feet and simply walked up the surface. He could have ran, but walking was quieter and harder to notice.

On the top of the cliff, Kakashi looked around. There were no more guards from what he could see. He still kept a careful watch. It was possible for a ninja to not have prepared for an approach from the cliff, but it was unlikely. All advanced genin, let alone chunin, wouldn't have been put off by such a simple cliff face.

Kakashi sneaked forward. If he was right, he would be able to overlook the rough center of the perimeter of guards at the edge of the cliff.

Down below, right where he expected it to be, was a house. There was something of a farm next to it, with some sort of activity going on. At first sight it looked like some people working, but they looked far too distant. It messed up his depth perception for a while until he figured out that they were really puppets who were moving things around.

And then Kakashi felt the spike of demonic chakra.

It was massive. It wasn't anything like during the fight with Zabuza. That had been worrisome. This was terrifying. He had only felt something close to this once before, back on that unfortunate day the Kyubi had devastated Konoha. And it was coming straight from the house.

Kakashi fought against the urge to flee. The smart thing to do would have been to run back to Konoha. There was nothing Kakashi could do on his own against the Kyubi, and they needed to be warned. That was if they hadn't already sensed the massive presence.

But those who abandoned their teammates were worse than trash, and Naruto was there. He was in massive trouble too, it seemed. His seal must have failed, possibly due to the actions of one S-Class ninja. Waiting for reinforcements was just not an option.

The only compromise Kakashi made to his principles was when he summoned Guruko and ordered him back to Konoha with an urgent request for as many reinforcements as possible. It was literally impossible to overstate the danger or urgency.

Kakashi then quickly made his way forward. Stealth was no longer an issue. Against the backdrop of the Kyubi's chakra, all other senses would be muted. Short of being seen directly, he was sure he wouldn't be noticed. Even if he were seen, he wasn't sure he would be noticed.

It felt like swimming against a raging river. There was nothing in front of him but he still felt like he had to claw and scrap and pull himself forward. He continued to ford against the tremendous rage pushing him back.

And then it vanished.

Below, at the house, all activity on the farm had ceased. Something felt wrong.

Kakashi kept himself on guard. Of the potential explanations, a trap was the most likely one.

With much more stealth than before, Kakashi continued on his way to the house. He was thankful that he wouldn't need to face an unleashed Kyubi, but any other explanation seemed far more dangerous.

When he got close, Kakashi uncovered his sharingan. He would need to be extremely careful with his chakra use. Konoha was a long way away, and reinforcements were incoming but an unknown distance away. He couldn't afford to waste all his chakra and be left defenseless.

The puppets at the farm had all fallen down. It was as if a cloud had descended and smothered them in an instant. They had fallen where they were, some of them covered by the various fruits or vegetables they were harvesting.

Kakashi didn't let that stop him.

The house was almost identical to Alice's house in Konoha. That wasn't just an impression. The sharingan proved it. Excepting the entrance, within minor tolerances the building was the exact same building. With one key difference.

Puppets were everywhere.

They were on the shelves. They were on the tables. They were on the chairs. They were on windowsills. They were on beds. They were underfoot.

They lay next to shattered teapots and cups. They were covered with trays and plates. They were haphazardly scattered between doors.

It all raised the hackles of Kakashi. He was incredibly on edge. He felt like he was surrounded by the enemy. In a very real way, he was surrounded by the enemy. He kept a keen eye on the nearest exit and readied himself to cast a fire jutsu in case he needed to burn a path clear.

The house as a whole presented an incredible paradox to him. He wasn't an infiltration expert, but one didn't become a jounin without some experience with information gathering. And the bits he saw presented a complex and irreconcilable bit of detective work.

Half-eaten cake and cold tea were set on a table next to a fallen puppet. It suggested that somehow Alice had been taken by surprise. However there were numerous packed bags, suggesting that Alice had been planning on leaving. However those packed bags were still present, suggesting again she had been taken by surprise.

The puppets along the shelves were organized and well kept, suggesting that Alice cared deeply for them. However the ones littering the tables and floors were a mishmash as if they had been thrown around at random, suggesting she could scarcely care less.

And the big contradiction. The trail of Naruto approached, but didn't leave. Kakashi would have seen somebody flying away, but there had been nothing. Self-evidently somebody must have been there, but there wasn't. There was nobody present that he could find.

"Do you smell anything?" Kakashi asked.

"The boy came in here. He sat down over at that table, then walked here. After that he vanishes."

"Do you smell anything else? Any chance he transformed?"

"Nope. The only thing I smell from the past few weeks besides him is some woman."

Kakashi did one last check with his Sharingan to make sure he hadn't missed some genjutsu or something else more mundane, but then covered his eye to conserve his chakra.

"Let's get out of here. I'm sure reinforcements are on their way and they'll want an explanation," Kakashi said.

As was fitting of a jounin, he didn't lower his guard until he was well away from the house and back on the cliffside. And even then he didn't really relax.

Kakashi wasn't an detective, but things simply didn't add up in his head. The only thing he knew for certain was that something big must have happened. There was too much contradictory evidence to make any other more specific conclusions. The things he knew didn't fit in with any theory he could put together of a kidnapping, an assault, a theft, an escape, a trap, or pretty much anything an enemy ninja would be involved in.

For the first time, Kakashi started to wonder if somehow they gotten it all wrong.

* * *

Temporary Author's Notes:

Yes, another Temporary Author's Notes, in addition to the more permanent one. If you've read what I've written before, you should know the deal about this by now. It will likely disappear some time in the coming months once I finish out my last major proofreading revision of the story.

To begin with, as always, retcons. Thank you everybody who pointed out that youkai do in fact need to eat. You are all entirely correct. I knew magicians didn't need to eat or drink and had mistakenly generalized to all of youkai in the previous chapter. I have since retconned that to remove that reference. Unfortunately it meant I couldn't segue into Alice talking to Naruto about what it mean to be a youkai. That had been some nice flavor text, but ultimately it wasn't that essential to the plot. Definitely, though, thank you very much to everybody who wrote a review with that correction (and who wrote a review in general).

That also led directly to those paragraphs in this chapter on the nature of being a youkai ad the speculation on Naruto's abilities.

Anyway, more general comments. This story just kind of showed up and took priority for no apparent reason. I haven't even finished my last revision pass through "Sakura and the Whirlwind of Discovery." I really ought to get that taken care of. But somehow this story just happened. Oh well. At least it was fun.

The reaction (or rather the lack of reaction) from Naruto returning from the Land of Waves in canon did kind of bother me. I kept waiting for a (probably short) scene of some disbelief or acknowledgment, or something of the feat they did. Maybe that's just me, though. If I'm being honest, I think the creators just didn't care. It wouldn't have been hard to add even a sentence or two in one of the scenes... but oh well. If nothing else, it did prove useful here in that it helped add that extra motivation for Naruto leaving.

I alluded to it in the Author's Notes, but there were so many other scenes or ideas which I just couldn't quite fit in or quite make work. For example:

-Naruto learning puppetry.

-Kakashi learning what danmaku is, and maybe joining in the fun. I had really wanted to include this in the Temporary Omake, but I couldn't make the timing of Alice's and Naruto's leaving work then.

-Alice getting discovered (either in the forest or preferably in town) and fighting off the attackers. Of course she would win each time, and of course she would offer tea each time.

-"Hello Naruto. Where's Sakura and Hokage?" "The old man's back at the tower, and I think Sakura's all stalking Sasuke." And Alice quickly realizes that the henge'd ninja is not really Naruto due to his misinterpretation of who Sakura and Hokage referred to.

-Alice (or her puppets) going along with Naruto to the Land of Waves.

-"Let's go, Shimon! Your drill is the drill that will pierce the Heavens!" Alice cheered the puppet on.

-Alice leaving to explore the world, and maybe finding puppets in the Land of Sand.

-Alice visiting the Land of Tea

-Actually writing out the Land of Waves adventure rather than alluding to it in dialog.

On the last one, I struggled with that a great deal. I didn't want to write out all the narration which was the same as in canon, but I didn't want to just ignore it all either, especially because there would be some changes due to Naruto's different skillset and personality. I did a compromise of glazing over canon in prose and trying to detail out the differences in dialog. I wonder there is a better way to do this, though.

I'm not sure if you noticed it, but I put a lot of thought into each chapter title. I've tried to have at least a double-meaning for each of them. I really tried to find a story title which had the same effect, but I couldn't think of any which captured the light-ish feeling of the story. All of the ones I could think of were too dark or too heavy, like "Befriending Loner Youkai" or some such. Oh well. At least this story would have an obvious sequel title, if that ever happens.

Speaking of names, it's really hard to make an really bad name. It's easy to make a bad name, but I'm not sure if it's harder to create a good one or if it's hard to intentionally create a really bad one. I wanted the Seal Skill Naruto used to be exceptionally ostentatious (as befitting a young Naruto), and I went through several iterations before I landed on the name I used.

Changing topics, I had a nice line in the ending of this story originally which I had to delete. I originally had Naruto asking Alice what her name was before he left with her. I could almost make it work, too. Almost. However I think it's a step too far to assert that Naruto is illiterate, so there's no way he would not know Alice's name after having all the signs in The Seven-Colored Puppets. Too bad. I really liked the feeling of the person who treats Naruto best is somebody who he never knew the name of. Oh well.

Anyway, that brings us to the end of "The Seven-Colored Puppeteer in the Land of Fire." As I've mentioned in the Author's Notes, I had a great deal of fun writing this, and I've been thrilled with the warm reception I've had for this story. Thank you everybody who wrote a review (especially people who have pointed out things to improve the story, be it typos, plot holes, mis-characterizations, or whatever it is). Regardless, though, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

* * *

Last Updated: July 1, 2014


End file.
